Dambuster Race Report

It's taken me a little while to write this report as it's never quite as easy to get the words out when things don't go to plan, but nonetheless here is my race report from The Dambuster Duathlon and a brief update of what I've been up to since.

Saturday 5th March saw me take to the start-line of my first race of the 2016 season at Pacesetter Events Dambuster Duathlon  held at Rutland Water. 

I can some my day up in one word. Brutal. What I was hoping to use as a good test of winter fitness became one of the most mentally challenging races I've done.

The forecast made it was clear it was going to be cold and I was hoping that the snow would pass before race day. When I woke up and saw rain but no snow I was relieved but knew it would be cold; something confirmed at the race briefing when we were told there was a wind-chill factor of -6 on the bike course. Great.

As it was my first multi-sport race in 6 months and my first ever standard distance duathlon, nerves were high pre-race and questions like 'Have I been training enough? Or too much? Have I made improvements on my run? Or bike? Or neither?' were floating through my mind.

As I lined up with hundreds of other athletes all these thoughts disappeared and I just focused on the next 2 hours. The horn blew and we were off! The pace was blistering from the start and after the first km I 'settled' into a group of 3, with 2 athletes up ahead. As we hit the 5km turnaround in 16:20 the heavens opened and it was encouraging to see all the other athletes coming along the dam in the other direction as we held pace back to transition.

Coming into transition was when my day made a turn for the worse. 43 of the coldest km's of my life were to follow. I had picked my new race bike up from Mailcoms Ltd. - a beautiful Trek Speed Concept 9 Series- a few days before the race, so I only had time for a rough set-up and a quick 30min spin. It was unknown territory, which wasn't the most thought-through plan and only made worse by the conditions. Losing my nutrition and getting caught on every possible junction (to be fair there are only 3 junctions on the whole course, but still...) added to my shambolic ride which was topped off when I came into transition. With little feeling in my hands, and some very wet brakes, I hit a sharp corner too fast and ended up in the barriers. I'm ashamed to say that my first thought was that this was a good enough excuse to call it a day and get warm, but I soon gave myself some stern words, climbed back on and made it into T2. I fumbled my helmet off and shoes on before what can only be described as a stiff shuffle round the final 5km run.

Final Result

Run 1 - 33:29

T1 - 0.50

Bike - 1.12

T2 - 0.51

Run 2 - 16:34

Overall - 12th

Age-Group - 3rd 

On reflection I'm glad to have got through a tough day when things really didn't go to plan, although I am still disappointed with my result as I expect more from myself and know that this isn't an adequate reflection of the work that I've put in over the winter.

For the last few weeks my training has moved on and I've been putting in some hard sessions now my main races are fast approaching. I have a long season ahead and it's been a tough job for Dr Garry Palmer of Sportstest to hold me back and make sure that I'm firing in the summer, when it counts. For now I'm going to keep pushing and am hoping for a better race at The Windsor Duathlon next weekend.

'Don't give up what you want most, for what you want now.'

Winter Update

It's been a while since my last post - mainly because technology has been failing me (no phone for 6 weeks and no laptop for 8 soon showed how much I rely on technology these days!) and I've been busier than ever juggling training, work and family/friends.

It feels like we've broken the back of the winter and thoughts are on the fast approaching race season. Goals have been set and races have been entered so there's no going back.

To sum up my winters training so far I’d use the word ‘consistent’. I’ve strung more consistent weeks of good training together than ever before, with more consistently strong individual workouts. I’ve not been breaking many PB’s but I’ve not been reaching for them either, using the zones set by Sportstest after a day spent in the lab (see last post) I’ve been able to train efficiently minimizing waste miles in ‘no man’s land’ and keeping every session purposeful and progressive. Later this week I'll be heading back into the lab with Sportstest and we’re hoping to see some significant improvements in my aerobic efficiency, which was highlighted as a weakness in the last tests.

Whilst training has been consistent I’ve also thrown in a few races to keep things fresh. In December I raced the Christchurch Christmas Pudding 10km and - after a stressful period I wasn’t expecting a lot but was over the moon to come away with a PB of 32.52! I’m sure there’s more to come off that though… I’ve also taken part in a local cross-country league scoring two 2nd’s and one 1st so far in a strong field. I’ve got my final cross-country race tomorrow and then I’ll be starting my multi-sport season at The Dambuster Duathlon on the 5th March to really see where I’m at physically and whether I have an outside chance of qualifying for the Duathlon World Championships that will be held in Spain in June.

There's plenty to be excited about as race season is just around the corner and things are falling into place nicely for the summer. I'll post again soon about my support team for 2016 and my race plans, until then I’ll leave you with a quote I’ve been thinking about a lot recently during training and day-to-day life:

‘I am made of the days you don’t see, not just the one that you do’