Alford wheelers presentation night

My first presentation night of the year was at the masonic hall in alford, a sit down meal and prize giving put on by the Alford wheelers,
With the club's founder still a active member and the club running for over 50years there is a lot of heritage with one of Lincolnshires most prestige clubs, as a triathlete surrounded by dedicated bikers I wondered if I was really welcome amongst them all but it soon became apparent we were all there for the same reason, our passion towards cycling. With a few speeches from long standing members the message of why we ride was universal, its for the freedom we sence when out on the bike,  our connection with nature and the challenges bought on by the change of seasons and the beautiful countryside that surrounds us there really isn't much point in trying to compete at a high level in any sport unless you are passionate about what you do, but for me cycling really does take the top spot, from time to time when everything comes right when your out on that bike there really is nothing quite like it.
With the meal out the way and entertainment provided by a few club members who are as competitive in there drinking as they are there cycling it was time for the presentation,
being new to the club and having to split my training time between 3 sports I was more than happy to walk away with a large shield for finishing 1st in the club's 18mile circuit handicap race and 3rd overall, It gave me a real sense of achievement that night and allowed me to reflect momentarily on the past season , it gave me a few more goals for the up and comming year,and I hope to be able to come back stronger next year and claim a few more trophies for my collection!.

It has to start somewhere

As another month passes by im now starting to get back into the full swing of training over winter, bit by bit upping distance, the aim of the game now is to build a good base of fitness that I can work on over spring and summer,
So what does that entail for me? A lot of miles and hours hopefully but no real desire for speed work at the moment so a lot of my training can be done at a sociable speed (although a lot of my training isn't always sociable hours)
Its at this time of year I also like to try and build on strength with some core work in the gym.
One change in my training plan for this year is to incorporate more stretching into my routines in a bid to stay more supple and hope to keep injury at bay. All was going well until one of my runs was cut short when I went over on my ankle with a misplaced step. As I lay on my back with my leg in the air, all I could think was 'well this ain't ideal', I rang home for a lift and began the process of rasing,  icing compressing and elevating (R.I.C.E) my left ankle a couple of days have passed and the swelling is starting to die down, If I was soley a runner this would ne very bad news for me as it would knock back my training quite a bit, however the big plus of triathlon is I still have two other sports to go at!
So as I rearrange my schedule for the next few weeks to cancel out my runs and up my swim and bike!

Recovery

After a long successful season i found it hard to stop training nearly every day. It became part of the routine, part of my life style. Im the first person to tell somebody else when I think there overtraining or to lay off when there injured yet I seldom listen to my own advice, in heign sight I should of had some time off at least a month earlier than I have done but my own stubbornness forced me to continue for a while longer. Finally I gave in and convinced myself a month off would allow my body to rest and be beneficial in the long run, hoping that it would leave me fresher and more motivated for the oncoming training and eventually racing.

During this month I also decided while the stresses and distractions of training were no longer present I would try shed a few lbs I had put on after my race season 'hair down' moment had come to a close. I did this by cutting out snacking and cutting meal portions down. Im a big snacker and stopped this my constantly telling myself  'im not missing out' by not eating and that I had no need for the extra food. I shrunk the size of my breakfast and lunch portions down but kept my dinner the same, dinner is a family time for me and it's unfair to change there eating habits just for my own gratification, we don't eat excessively and our meals are fairly healthy so this didnt cause a problem, In the month I managed to lose around 5/7lbs and hope now my training has started back up to lose another 5lbs over the following months to get closer to my racing weight.

My first session back to training was a slow steady, light weight session, with a aim of slowly building good form before moving onto heavier weights, I focus on my core muscles to make the most of my time in these sessions and if I have extra time I usually focus on specific areas ive had problems with injurys in the past to strengthen these areas up.

The next few months I will start with slow short training sessions building on both intensity and duration as time progresses, but for now its just nice to be back on the road to Geneva ! .

Autumn epic, Welsh boarders

4th and 5 th of October was the weekend of the Autumn epic sportive, a 94mile bike tour of some of the Welsh marshes an Hills, Scot Hargreaves had volunteered to drive us the 190 miles there (and 190back!!) and we would split the costs when we got back. We would meet up with Andy Manfredi and Jack Harrison at a campsite 6miles from the event start where we caught up with each other and set up camp. One thing we didn't prepare for was the sheer drop in temperature at night, with the weather dropping below minus2 and only having summer sleeping bags we all took the decision to sleep fully clothed. it made for a cold night an im quite surprised none of my fingers or toes had dropped off :) .

Rock bridge park campsite was excellent with clean facility's and ample space, Steve, the campsite owner had even left out various shower gels and toothpaste in case any one had forgot, the views from the site were Amazing running along side the river Lugg and the showers are some of the best showers ive come across on a campsite rivaling my own at home!. If your ever around and need temporary accommodation they are definitely worth a visit  http://rockbridgepark.co.uk/

Sunday morning was a early start,  needing to warm up from the cold night I cooked some porridge on my meths stove and used the excellent showers, It was a well drilled rehearsal from all of us to eat, get changed and pack up camp ready for sportive start at Knighton.

we had collectively decided to ride the event together each playing a role in sharing the workload on front of our own pack and controlling the pace to suit. However Jack Harrison wouldn't be riding on the day as he had previously broken his wrist in a downhill mtb accident, however the support from Jack was very much appreciated and I hope he has a quick recovery. the bikes were given a timing chip and number so we could easily be identified throughout the event. Scot had also managed to upload a map to his garmin 310xt so we could follow the route with ease however the signage at the event was spot on with clear yellow marker arrows along all the turns for the entire length of the course with feed stops marked out alongside several of the notable climbs of the day.

Its worth noting at this point how well the event had been organised with several motorbikes circleing the course with a barage of spares on board and words and signs of encouragement from the riders they made the ride feel safe in the knowledge that should anything happen to go wrong support would never be far away, at the feed stops there was endless supplys of water bananas flapjacks and jaffa cakes, a little to much endulgance on the first stop I must add :), however the volunteers were very accommodating,  its also worth a special mention to the driver of the black saab who I believe to be the event organiser who couldn't do enough to help out, if your reading this thanks so much for the support and positive attitude towards all the riders on the course your up-beat attitude certainly shone through to everybody else who had given up there time that day.

The ride itself was challenging,  coming from lincolnshire Its difficult (although far from impossible) to fit in a ride with lots of elevation gain, with my gps recording a rough estimate of between 7500 an 8000ft of climbing on the day it was certainly not for the unexperienced rider, with 25% gradients in places some one after another! But what goes up must come down with sweeping hairpin decents and speeds upto and over 50mph in places on virtually empty roads I challenge anyone to come down one of them decents without a massive smile on there face.

Although we had decided to stick as a group Andy had been showing me how to decend all day long, I knew that the last 3miles were all downhill so my competitive nature took over on the last climb putting several minutes into both Andy and Scot making sure he had no chance of cstching me on the final 5km however there was no real need for any upset as it had been a social challange for us all and not a race

At the end tea and coffee was provided along side jacket potato with a topping of your choice, this was welcomed after all the sugar hits from the flapjack jaffa cakes and bananas !  We sore off Andy and Jack on there way home and set off for home ourself after a excellent weekend

With Autumn now settled in and winter on its way the journey home was a good time to reflect on our winter training plans, with Scot being one of my training partners and fellow triathletes it's nice to share information on our plans and share each others motivation for the following months, both realising that long winter rides are very much possible but also both realising more kit preparation is needed for the up and coming cold and wet months. 

Starting mats at Knighton community center

 

Jacks Wrist/hand

Doncaster Triathlon

Leading up to doncaster standard distance triathlon I shouldnt of had any nerves as no one expected anything from me however I had put a lot of pressure on myself as I believed I could win the event outright.
The previous year I had signed up to Doncaster triathlon to be my first standard distance event but two weeks before hand I had been knocked off my bike by a lorry, the injury ment I couldn't compete but only served to rally me up for this years event, I kept my nerves low by reminding myself of previous good performances throughout the year and all the hours of training I had put in

I traveled to the event with the only other Louth Athlete and good friend Martin Ball, other members of louth tri club had decided to compete in the shorter Sprint distance tri at Louth for the first ever Louth Triathlon. We arrived early allowing us to sign on, warm up and get ready for the race.

The 1500m swim was 2 laps of the Hatfield water park lake, I set off fast to gain some space before settleing into a rythem along side fellow competitor Jp hemmings who I knew was a good swimmer, we swopped and shared the drafting role for the entire swim and I exited in 5th place just behind Jp however I managed to overtake him in transition leaving me in 4th place.

The bike leg was a uncomplicated flat 42kms I settled into a high pace early on keeping a close eye on my heart rate and keeping my cadence high rather than pushing a big gear to help save my legs for the 10km run, within the first 5minutes of the bike leg I had passed the other 3 competitors putting me in a firm first place, I continued the high pace reaching speeds over 30mph for parts of the course,  when I finally entered T2 I was a full minutes ahead of the field but I wasn't aware of this at the time so continued my assault.

When I set off on the run one of my worst fears struck me, I had started the race with stiff legs from over doing some high intensity training the week leading up to the event, I quickly adjusted my running style to cause as little bother to my calfs as possible this seemed to be a very short steps however it was enough to keep my lead only loosing 2 minutes on the run meaning I won the event outright by a whole 5minutes !.

Triathlon England Club Sprint Relays

August Bank holiday held the Annual sprint relays at Nottinghams Holme pier point, a great venue for spectating as the entire event takes place around the regatta boating lake with a 750m open water swim 3 anticlockwise loops of the path around the lake (15km) and a final 5km clockwise run, with the relay format 4 people are needed each competing all sections of the triathlon I was the first man off once finishing the swim my dutys were to tag the second man (Glenn Bonner) who would tag the 3rd (Martin Ball) and finally onto the 4th (Ross McGregor), who would pass the batton ( a colourful rubber band in this case) to me to start my cycle leg.

The Swim start was hectic as usual, with us starting in the water as opposed to a beach style start. There was a lot of confusion as to when the start would actually be and several people drifting passed the start line, all of a sudden out of the blue the siren sounded and the entire field exploded into action.  My race plan was to treat each leg of the triathlon as a separate race with the knowledge that there would be some rest after each section of my race was completed, so I gave it my all in the swim breathing heavily and swimming hard from the first 25m I managed to get myself towards the front of the field always looking for fast feet to hang onto to help my progress in the water, I left the water in the top quarter of the pack and was pleased with my efforts, I left the other 3 to carry on the swim dutys while I removed my wetsuit, gathered my breath took on fluids and got ready for the bike leg

, The swim leg continued with places swopping around all the time, I knew my teammates would be giving as much effort and determination towards the end goal as myself, It made it easy to get fired up for the bike leg having the added pressure of a team to compete for and to once again treat it as a bike race rather than a leg of a triathlon.

The bike leg was the first time I really got to appreciate the support from the spectators, fellow team mates and members of Louth tri club I was really pleased with the bike leg, performing faultlessly throughout ,with the circuit being closed to traffic and only having the bikes on the course I could concentrate more on putting the power down and keeping myself out of the wind rather than worrying aboit otjer traffic and road features. once again I managed to claw forward some places including Lincoln Triathlons male A team who had a strong line up, I knew we were progressing well when I passed them early on but wasnt about to rest, I knew if we wanted to finish on the podium the hard work had to continue.

As the other 3 teammates continued I prepared myself for the run, although 5km is shorter than the distance I usually race at (10km) I find it much more intense as the mental and physical strain on your body is high running at a speeds much faster than I would usually race at, I was once again pleased with my performance. I couldn't of asked for more from myself on race day and all the training hours that had gone in had paid off and luck being on our side for no mishaps or mechanicals to happen,  I could now partly relax and cheer on my other team mates willing them on and praying for a podium position.

With there being several different races being ran at the same time, it was difficult to judge  Whereabouts in the standings we were as other competitors started crossing the line, when Ross came down the finishing chute little did we know after over 3hours of racing how close the finish would be.

We all packed our kit away and waited for the final competitors to finish the race, once everyone had finished the awards could be handed out, We had done it, we managed second place in Triathlon England Club relay championships! With less than 50seconds between ourselfs first and 3rd place! ,none of this could of been achieved without the hard work put in by the entire team, Now we collectively know what we all have to do next year to turn that silver Into a gold.

Much needed update

With my summer racing season over its time for me to update my blog after a 3 month sabbatical.  Why the large gap?, truth be told its hard work Training and looking after a family to add on top of that the added pressure of looking for sponsorship to get me to the Euros in Geneva and writing a Blog somthing had to give and I wasnt about to drop the larger things in my life, However with a few adjustments Ive finally settled back down to normality and look forward to keeping a journal on my progress towards Geneva and the future beyond.