Wilkommen auf Austria

Today I arrived in Austria, where I will be watching the Ironman on Sunday and taking a little break to drive across Italy and Switzerland, stopping off at some of the most famous lakes for a swim and generally enjoying being away from the routine for a bit. After swimming another 20km this week I am sure the pool attendants must be sick of the sight of me now... so good to try some pastures new (and hotter - its 36 degrees here!)

I have had a good week where I bounced straight from racing into training again and proved that my body will go as far as I want to push it, provided I feed it a bit of chocolate every now and then....

There were of course low spots like when my gears went wrong on the lovely new bike, but -thank goodness- it was only a blonde moment as I'd been unaware that when you buy a new Di2 system it comes only partially charged and you have to charge it. So now I know how it feels when the battery runs out! A good learning experience. Bridget Jones would be proud!

Anyway, I'm doing my bit as the support crew now, so I'd better to go and help assemble bikes, drive the course,  send positive vibes and generally shout encouragement for the next 48 hours that is Ironman mayhem. Jealous, who.... me?

2nd in National Olympic Distance Champs

This weekend was a weekend of 2nd places as it turned out. I snuck in one extra race on Saturday and I managed to get PB run times in both the 5k and the 10k over the two days. It was, however, pretty lonely driving all the way up to Shropshire and racing without any support crew or even anyone I knew up there.

The race is exceptionally well organised and marshalled, and it feels very much like a local race -except for the fact that its a World Olympic Distance qualifier and the National Championships. It also starts at 11am, which means you can have a real breakfast, another luxury that I rather like.
Its a shame they weren't able to book the weather though. Although the forecast was for it to clear up after really heavy showers during the night, actually more rain swept in during the race, and it never really warmed up above about 14 or 15 degrees.

So to the race itself.
Swim
When the gun went off, we finally got to experience the temperature of the algae-infested water  (14 degrees) and i'm not going to lie, this was a shock, and I got a bit taken by surprise. The wave was all the women under 40. So, that meant there were some exceptionally fast 20-29 year olds. I hadn't quite bargained for that, and I was dropped by the lead pack around the first turn buoy - about 400m in. I was really gutted as I know how well I've been swimming, and in this race in the past I've led the swim. Still, I did a PB in 22:40. But there were a big bunch of girls younger than me who all went 20 mins or 21 mins. This is exceptionally fast for British AG racing in my view, and it just shows the depth of talent joining our sport now -thanks to the likes of Chrissie and the Brownlees. It does however draw a big distinction between the Age Groups, as most people from 30 upwards have learned to swim for triathlon and are, like me, proud to do anuything under 25 mins. But I can't really contend with the school swimmers coming out nearer 20 mins! I feel that my inability to hang on was what cost me the gold in this race.

BikeOnto the bike, and I made pretty fast work of all the younger swimmers who couldn't take the bike pace. Heading out onto the very fast and short course on a mission- I had no Garmin or computer, so I just nailed it, and made sure my HR didn't go above 170. this got me clear of any packs so I could just work hard without worrying about the draftbusters, and I let the Blue bike do the work, freezing as I was in my arm warmers and calfguards. I loved the bike somehow, despite the driving rain that fogged my glasses, not feeling my hands to change gears and having to take it easy descending on waterlogged roads. After a very short time, compared with Italy, I was rolling into transition in 1:07, 1st place in the Age, but with about 9 younger athletes in front on the run.
In transition I struggled to undo my helmet as I couldn't feel my hands, and with the inevitably frozen feet that wouldn't go into my shoes, so my usually fast 40s turned into 1 min 4 as I sat down and forced the toes to get into my shoes. This cost me dearly.
RunThis 10k run is really brutal - I've done it lots of times so I was perfectly prepared for the mental challenge of the hills, demoralising high hedgerows and I felt ready to fight. But at 1km, I was overtaken by another 35-39 year old. I hadn't seen her all race and we've never raced each other before. I stuck close on her heels, but she pulled away about 30secs between 2-6km. After 8km I started to feel really good - I began to feel my feet again. I picked it up and sprinted home but I couldn't make up the gap and she won, with my 2:13 finish putting me in 2nd in the age group and getting me a slot for Olympic World Championships in Auckland.
However I nearly didn't get either as the chief referee pulled me to one side and told my my Thames Turbo kit is in violation of the ITU kit rule about maximum midriff showing. I was aware of this rule, but have never seen it enforced before. Sadly, now they have decided to do so, I will not be able to wear this kit for ITU rule-based races. Lucky my races are almost all WTC rules (5150, 70.3)
So I can fly the turbo flag happily most of the year, but for Cowman, I will have to go to a plain suit that covers my midriff! anyway, I negotiated my way out of a DQ, by showing him that it had ridden up during the run, and really my abs aren't on quite such prominent display, honest Never thought my Abs would get me DQ'd!!

Its is a time 3 mins faster than I've ever done on that course before, and faster in all 3 disciplines, although the biggest gain is in the run. So I'm really chuffed that the hard work is paying off, and its a personal victory to race that well in windy, wet conditions, which are not my strong point as I feel the cold so much.

I have raced Shropshire for 6 years, and improved by 11 mins in that time. I also came 19th in my first National Champsionships back in 2006, so to be disappointed with 2nd shows how far I've come.I have to thank Tom Bennett for improving my run split and for bearing with me while I question everything as he changes my running style. And of course Thames Turbo Powerbar for the nutrition, wetsuit, and Jennie at Fresh for my conditioning work and myofascial release. Next race is Cowman now - and a little break this weekend in Austria... finally some time away from this weather.

If Bridget Jones did triathlons...

With apologies to Helen Fielding, this is what my week would have looked like according to Bridget Jones:


June 18th Week 4 of Sabbatical:
weight = lower than when I was 18 years old. Must eat more. Getting very cold - had to turn heating on to keep warm.
Swims = 20km total. Arms now falling off. v.g.
Runs = 2 in training, 2 in races. Not bad.
Bikes = 2 more than the coach asked for, bit naughty
Disagreements with coach = 1. Oops. Must learn the difference between a 1 hour 30 ride and a 5 hour ride....
Races; only one aquathon so far (came 2nd this morning) and managed to watch one mid-week without getting tempted to join in!

Food consumed this week:
I ate my whole week's food by Thursday morning: 2 steaks, 1 salmon, 5 chicken breasts, 2 big tubs of yoghurt,  at least 250g porridge oats,  1 pack of polenta, 250g of rice, no potatoes, no pulses. Ribs and wedges at Jennie's house (thanks chick!) and a naughty English Breakfast, which I then regretted when I went running afterwards!
1 cheesecake with creme fraiche. A bar of chocolate - dark so it must be good for you.
Strawberries, rasperries, 3 avocados, a pomegranate, unlimited salad, spinach, asparagus and broccoli.
Alcohol units: 2 glasses of wine with dinner last night, another 2 on Monday. Not enough!!

movies watched while recovering (getting better at this): Blind Side, Never Let me Go, Daylight, Sin City. oh and a bit of Quantum of Solace plus a fair amount of Euro 2012.

I finally started to get a bit bored this week, mainly of going out on my bike and getting soaking wet. Only so many times you can persuade your friends out to get blown inside out and soaked on a bike. So its definitely time to get out of this dreadful summer and enjoy some European heat. One last race here before I leave next Friday. Tomorrow is the National Olympic distance Champs, in Ellesmere, Shropshire. My start time is 11:10. Oh, and they have warmed us that the lake has Blue-Green Algae. If this race also turns into a duathlon becuase the swim is too unsafe, I will seriously give up on triathlons in the UK. I didn't swim 20km this week to end up doing a run-bike-run!

So I'm off up there shortly, out of all phone signals probably and the great social networking monster probably can't find the results either til later on.... so I will post up here when I get home. I'm hoping that my poor tired body has something left for this race!

Decisions, decisions

So this week, I came back from Italy feeling on top of the world. My recovery was super- fast (possibly linked to the amount of great Italian food and wine I consumed post-race) and when my fantastic coach Tom Bennett (http://www.t2coaching.co.uk/) and I met up to discuss the race, he told me I was to have a light week, I admit to feeling rather disappointed.

Actually that's a lie, I was just belligerent. I really wanted to race again. I was on a roll, and I felt the need for more excitement and the adrenaline of racing. So, the text messages went like this:

Liz: I'm feeling really good today (Wednesday)
Tom: I hope its not your intention to race.
Liz: Damn, who told you that?

And I accidentally entered the USN Dorney lake sprint, run by the nice people at VOtwo events, who let me enter on the night, and were militarily well organised, and ran an excellent race.

Which I won. In a storming 1:07, with my fastest swim and run splits this season. So that was all great. But Tom didn't seem too pleased.....

Oh well, the next thing that happened was that the organisers of my planned next race, at Windsor, one of the biggest and most well-known events in the calendar, had to cancel the swim, and I made the decision to pull out. The race is tomorrow, and it will be an interesting time for all those involved, as it is a 1 km run to get your bike out of transition and onto the bike course. A bit Le Mans if you ask me. And the reason they stopped the run to the start at Le Mans in 1970? Safety.

Nuff said. My beautiful Blue bike does not like the idea of contact racing so she and I will wait til next week at the UK National Championships in Shropshire.

This is a decision I would never have made if I was working all summer. So it made me think that sometimes, you have to keep the bigger picture in mind, and of course a full time athlete may be juggling costs of getting to races with the likely prize money, and other reasons for racing. For me, its not a big enough incentive to risk injury for a race that's not a triathlon. A real shame that Human Race, the organisers didn't feel that, in order to maintain the prestige of the race, it would have been worth postponing it.

In the grand scheme of things, we only have the weather to blame and Windsor is just one of many UK races this year where the swim has been affected, shortened or cancelled. Is this really the country for me to be racing, I ask myself???

Veni, Vidi, Vici

I just got back in from Italy and the Half Ironman, which was my A race, and a key goal for the year, the aim being to win, with no room for error....

Veni, vidi, vici as they say. And then they ought to follow it up with 'I drank vino rosso'

 

Here are the main bits that spring to mind from the race - the second running of this event, which takes place in Pescara, on the Adriatic Coast of Italy. I flew to Rome and it is a 2 hour 30 drive across the country on one of the smoothest, most beautiful roads I've ever had the pleasure to drive. Only a shame not to have been able to do it in a sports car (the day someone designs a sports car that bike boxes will go in, I'll love them!)

 

The race result was that I came 1st in age, and first amateur in 5:13, which would have placed me 6th in the pros. I'm extremely proud of it, and its a good consolidation of the hard work that Tom at T2Coaching has put in with me this year, although of course he says there's lots more to work on!

 

Buildup

 

I would say that the prep for the race was physiologically very sound, but logistically rather lacking.... My body felt great going into it, the 2 week taper worked out perfectly, and I was feeling healthy, rested and raring to go. The decision not to race last Monday in the rain was also justified. 

 

Logistically, you've got to remember the race is run by Italians. Wonderful chefs, poor organisers. Everything was late, unsigned, unexplained and rules changed at the drop of a hat, e.g. you had to bring your number belt to transition to rack your bike. Eating gluten-free in Italy also proved to be more of a challenge than I expected as the day before the race I nearly had a sense of humour failure when I couldn't get any food as all the restaurants shut from 2:30 -8pm and I'd missed lunch due to an hour long queue for the bike service, and another long queue for check in. Everything took forever. Even removing my bike from transition after the race took a full hour. Still, it all worked out in the end....

 

Race Start.

I felt very very good on race day. I knew that the sunny and dry conditions would suit me, and I was prepared to leave it all out there on the course to get the result I had worked for.  

 

Swim

The men in my wave would not let me go to the front (that was an offense to the Italian machismo - more on this later) so I just had to run in from the beach behind them, and then overtake by dolphining in the water. It was too shallow to swim for a long way out but I'd practiced this the day before, and I was confident of the amount of energy that it would take, and knew I would still have a strong start.

So I set off in the front group, and before I knew it, there was just myself and one other girl, we swam stroke for stroke the whole way - with all the men strung out in a long line on our feet! Then into the shallows and she got up and walked, which it turned out was faster than my chosen route of swimming to the exit. So we ran through the 1km- long transition together, with 2 other girls who'd gone for the walking exit route! I was very pleased wtih this swim, and felt -despite the time being 35mins - it was logged as 2.5km on the Garmin- that I'd used just the right amount of energy and felt pretty relaxed.

 

Bike

I did a no- nonsense transition despite it being about a 1km long run, and headed out before the girls I'd come in with, mounting safely out of the way of the rather erratic Italian men. I then proceeded to get all the way out of Pescara on the smooth tarmac of the highway, overtaking a man about every 10m or so, and warning them to 'Occio' - I think it means 'look out' - which turned out to be the best word I'd learned all weekend.

So it was that I arrived at the hilly section in full sunshine, about 35 degrees and feeling pretty good, keeping my HR below 160.

I held back so that I didn't completely fry my legs, but all the time I'd been told there was one girl out on the course ahead of me (she swam 33 mins) so I reeled her in at last at the end of the first lap of the two lap bike. I was feeling very positive at that point, going out into to the lead for the first time, knowing I had good nutrition and was keeping my pace suitably controlled for the conditions. I won't lie that the Baby Blue worked really hard on the downhills though, making the most of her aerodynamics, I was passing big Italian guys the whole way, even the ones with disc wheels and aero helmets. That was great fun. I'm sure they will get over it, eventually.

 

Anyway, it wasn't to last that I stayed in the lead, as 2 girls then caught me on the second lap. I decided to let them work hard enough to ruin their own legs, while I concentrated on drinking and eating plenty for the hot run ahead. By the time we'd reached the fast downhill and the highway back home again, they were both there again, and letting me do all the work on the front of a pace line. This worked very well, we were mature about it, while putting off the annoying men who didn't understand that being overtaken didn't mean you were then supposed to sit on the ladies' wheel for a bit for a nice rest, before overtaking on the inside again.... I tried in my best English to educate a few, but soon gave up!

 

So I cruised into transition having drunk 400ml of caffeinated Hi-5, 1500ml of Powerbar isotonic, and eaten 3 powerbar gels, all caffeinated, plus one powerbar.

 

Run.

I went out at a pretty good pace, the pace I'd trained at, but I knew was too fast to hold for the whole 13 miles. I guessed I was in the lead, as I knew the two girls on the bike were still in transition, and this was confirmed by the nice lady who put the band on my wrist for lap 1, and I could see no women at all on this lap. I did, however, know that there was the second female running about 1 minute behind and she was constantly there, playing on my mind the whole way. I was so determined that I wanted my Las Vegas slot, and I was leading my first ever half ironman, and didn't want to see that lead getting eroded. At about 4.5 km, I started to get a sharp pain I've had in my abdominals from breathing in training, and at the race in Dorney. I calmly ignored it, relaxed, and it went away within about 5-10 mins, so I am really pleased about that. This was a big victory for me over my body. Unfortunately, my mind didn't want to stay as strong. Not sure why, but I really had some low points from about 7-12km on the run. The final 12-21km actually got better. The thing that picked me up in the end was drinking coke which I would not normally do until the very end of a race,  but it semeed to give me the instant boost I needed. A shout from an English supporter also helped, as the local supporters only really shouted for the Italians and were not really that into me, as a woman, beating the men. The racers themselves actually threw water bottles under my feet at couple of times (I said 'grazie' nicely rather than get in a fight!). I suppose for a nation of soccer and F1 fans, women's sport isn't that popular.... even though they did have Sara Errani in the French Open final the day before.

  

I crossed the line in first, although no one said anything. They didn't seem to know, or care that I was female and had won. So I just went to grab a shower, and eat in the athlete area waiting for Brent, my support crew, who was having a rather more value-for-money approach to Half ironman, having failed to negotiate one of the tight turns on the bike course.

 

I got some sparkling wine in to celebrate, and when Brent finished, we collected our gear and tried to get home to get the money for the World 70.3 Championships Slot allocation. Which is when I found my car blocked in, presumably by some nice Italians! So I did a nice hard recovery ride of 15km to get back to the hotel and pick up the money and passport that you need to accept your place, and back to the presentation in time. Of course, it started an hour 15 late!

 

Anyway, the job is done. my place is secured at Las Vegas on 8th September. So now I've just got to get there in the shape of my life.... speaking of which its off for a massage now with Jennie @jwsportstherapy.

 

Back to training in the rain now....

 

Lean, mean and ready to race

Well, I am all packed, had my pre-race massage, manicure and eyebrows done... (all in the name of racing my best - you've got to feel good about yourself, right?) and I'm off very early in the morning to Italy.

Thanks again to Tom Bennett http://www.t2coaching.co.uk/ for making sure the taper went to plan and Jennie Wilson @jwsportstherapy for ensuring my body feels as good as it ever has done. Now its all about executing the plan....

I weighed my luggage today so I don't have any unexpected trauma at the airport (I'm only checking the bike in this time, everything else is hand baggage).  I noticed that I seem to have lost some weight in the last 2 weeks leading to the race - that could be useful in the 500 odd meters of climbing. So I thought I'd add our lean, mean Thames Turbo Powerbar Team photo that we had done this week. Plenty of reasons to refuel with pasta, red wine and gelato -AFTER the race!

Escape from the British summer....

Well, I've done my last hard session training in biblical torrential rain and winds now... and I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to these temperatures!!!
The poor Baby Blue bike has been swimming more often than she cares for, and I'm now treating her to a good bath, before packing her for the journey.

To Race or not to Race?

Well, it was a very tricky decision for me, but yesterday I decided that I was beaten by the British weather, and DNS'd at the local Thames Turbo Race 3. It was a huge disappointment to me, as I felt really good going into this week, but I just know myself very well, and it was only 8 degrees, raining and windy.  I had been so cold the night before just setting up the race -wearing 4 or 5 layers rather than just a skimpy 2 piece lycra number - that it took me a full 2 hours to warm up again and get feeling in my extremities.

Yes, I know about Rule #5 (see http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/) and of course those who mention this are quite right, but maybe they don't have an A race around the corner in 6 days. So I had to think of it as preventing myself getting ill. Another year I'll be able to do the Thames Turbo race series - on a day when it looks like summer is actually going to make an appearance.

Today's task was trying to lure my Garmin 310XT into providing me with some information on my race - even a little bit of speed or a beat or two of my heart would be nice. But no, it decided point blank after Sunday's session not to co-operate. Either my heart actually did stop, or my battle with technology was lost. It is a kind of no-feedback technological purgatory that I know shouldn't affect my race, but in reality it made me feel a bit exposed because I like to rely on knowing what the numbers are for my sessions, even if I only actually analyse them afterwards.

So this afternoon I went to the fine boys and girls at Sigma Sport in Hampton Wick (where I bought said misbehaving Garmin) and pleaded with them to help. I tried my best damsel in distress impression, and they helpfully agreed to send off the frustrating piece of electronics to Garmin for me, while setting up a friend's replacement for me to use. Big thanks to Brendan Leddy for his help, and Conrad at Sigma.

Well my first full week of not earning and I'm enjoying my taper into Italy 70.3 next week. It has been a big change from a full time job, in ways I hadn't even considered.

High points:
- I'm getting quicker still, fastest mile run ever this week, and I am hitting my race pace consistently now even for longer distances and off the bike.
- winning at Dorney Lake -great atmosphere, perfect weather for it.
- managing to catch up with friends for coffee or dinner - not something I ever managed last year during race season!

Low points:
- It turns out that its really difficult to organise training sessions with other people! Yes, they all have different priorities, but it is great to train with friends when we are able.
- I didn't always manage to get the order of eating, resting and training quite right.... there was at least one workout where I'd eaten too much before I trained, and two where I was hungry.

Next week there are just 2 more key sessions until I leave for Italy on Friday morning. Will keep you posted....

Report from my first race - Sunday 27th May

This my finish line shot from last Sunday's Nuffield Health Sprint, held at Dorney Lake. Pleased to say I was first female and feeling quite good. The swim was a bit off what I'm capable of  -12:20 for 750m, and the bike was 35.30 which isn't too bad - 35.8 kph average or 22mph. so the new Blue bike did a storming job. The run could have been better at 21:26 although the course was 5.1 km. But I probably worked a bit too much into my 'red zone' and got some pain in my abdominal muscles. Still, as you can see, I enjoyed it. The heat of the day is really my thing and racing with my club mates made it all the more fun.

Plenty to work on before the A race in Italy though. My 'muppet' mistakes were:
1. choosing the wrong feet to follow on the swim
2. navigating using the rowing lanes instead of looking at where the swim exit was!
3. Not getting the most elegant of mounts onto my bike (ouch!)
4. Using the lap button wrongly on my Garmin so I had no feedback of speed on the bike!
5. taking my feet out of the shoes about 500m early before the end of the bike (idiot!)

At least I didn't get lost or sunburnt!!