26th November 2022 Standard Distance World Championships, Abu Dhabi

1.5km Swim 39km Bike 10.5km Run - Temperature 30oC

Swim 26:29 - T1 03:26 - Bike 00:59:11 - T2 02:25 – Run 00:44:40 Total Time 2:16:19

6th 55 - 59 Age Group

I qualified for this event nearly 18 months ago having started back running after the 2019 back operation and long layoff. Woodhorn was my first 10km run in two years and the plan was to build back to be able to run a high 30s 10km to be competitive at this shorter distance race. My biking was already where it needed to be, and a good swim block 4 months out would see me in touch with the leaders. The best laid plans and all that as the subsequent months were a series of stop start running blocks as I ran into injury after injury. I knew it would take a year to get back my old running form and when it got to 6 months out from the race, and I was still not running I knew my chances of a podium were pretty much done.

Nevertheless, in the 4 months leading into the event I managed to run regularly, my running fitness slowly started to come back and so I nudged the speed once a week. On my penultimate run before heading out I got that now familiar searing pain in my calf and I knew that was it, game over rover. I contacted the team manager and asked to switch to the aquabike event, but he said it was too late to do so. Now familiar with the patience required to rehab and get running again, I figured there was a 10% chance I would be able to run at all come race day. The prospect of swimming and biking and not running held no appeal whatsoever so it was either get running or DNS – my trial run was the day before the race, and I figured I needed to be able to run 5km pain free or not bother. 

In the preceding days I continued to feel some pain in my calf, but I resolved to give it a go anyway. I popped the trainers on and headed out the door almost certain that in 500m I would pull up and pull out but to my amazement it held up, so I pushed on for the 5km, it was game on.

It was a non-wetsuit sea swim. I hadn’t done the required swim block as I hadn’t been sufficiently motivated to do the hard work and now without a wetsuit or even a swimskin (not allowed in ITU events) the chances of staying in touch with the leaders was remote at best. We were the last group off, so I figured just try and stick with a group for as long as possible on some decent feet and try and limit the losses. 

The gun sounded and off we went with the swimmers of the group gapping the rest of the field pretty quickly. Specialists at this distance are strong swimmers compared to long distance athletes as its proportionally a bigger part of the total race duration. I settled in with a few others and just tried to stay honest but still gave away 4 or 5 minutes to the leaders.

It was a 500m run to T1, so it was the first test of the calf. No dramas, got there ok and probably dropped no more than 20s to the leaders who were much more practised at transitions.

Now the bike was going to be interesting, this was my ace card to claw back some time, but I had a significant technical issue the weekend before the race. For some unknow reason the power meter broke and there was no work around to sort it. Not terminal but certainly sub-optimal as I ride and race with power and it’s an important component of the strategy to ride well. Plan B was to ride to heart rate and speed. Plan B failed as my heart rate strap didn’t work on race day, so I was just left with speed. The plan became to ride as hard as I could for as long as I could and don’t blow up before T2. Well, that worked for the first 20km but the second was certainly slower as the legs started to tire. 

However, it was good enough to make a few places up in the field and at least start the run with the chance to acquit myself well.

Through T2 with a bit of faff getting my shoes on but again, perhaps costing me 20 or 30s max. I had resolved as part of my plan 18 months ago to practise these and get as fast as the best but that had fallen by the wayside as my running consistency failed.

Now it was into the unknown. It was baking hot and I had buried myself on the bike so would I be able to run the full distance and if I could, at what pace? The first km felt sluggish, so I was pleasantly surprised to see 4:33 come up on my watch. If I could chug along at that pace then I felt sure I would be in the top half of the field. The next km was 4:28 and there it stayed as my confidence grew and I slowly started to believe I could execute a decent run and perhaps get higher up in the field. 

The heat started to take its toll on all racers but its something I have become accustomed to dealing with in my longer distance races, so whilst others started to slow I continued to churn out the kms and ended up with an 4:24 average.

I had no real idea where I was in the field when I crossed the line but I thought I exited the water around 20^th and had passed people on both the bike and the run and had not been passed by anyone. I was astonished and thrilled to learn that I had come in the top 10 despite the obstacles I had to navigate on the way to the start line, it was beyond any expectations. 

When I first came into triathlon, I had quickly done some of the GB team stuff and I had tried a few times to qualify for the world champs at this distance, but the competition was just too strong. I resigned to being a good long distance athlete and was happy at having success at that so you could say this was the culmination of 20 years of trying at standard distance triathlon!

So that’s a wrap for now, the winner took 5 minutes out of me on the swim and 3 minutes on the run. My A pan would have seen me take at least 2 minutes out of him on the run but I suspect his swim would always have been too strong for me to get the win. Back to long distance biking it is!

18th September 2022 - UCI Gran Fondo World Championships, Trento, Italy

 145km with 3820m Elevation gain

06:15:56 Speed 23.1kph Power 249w

100^th Age Group 55 – 59 

 

I have not historically posted about bike racing as I don’t really race bikes, but I thought the world champs was probably worth a short note. We last competed in the UCI age group world champs back in 2017 in Albi and I guess it was time to have another go not least because my running rehab is frustratingly slow and therefore meaningful triathlon racing is out the question.

 

The UK qualification race was the Tour of Cambridgeshire in June held on my doorstep in Peterborough. With the way the bike racing at the front end is conducted, this is only a race to enter when there is no serious tri racing in the following few weeks. It’s a broad church is road racing with some variable skill levels. Last time around there were some nasty crashes with riders not holding a line, barging and plain poor handling so keeping at the front and picking the wheels to follow and not to follow is an essential element of racing. It’s a 100m race with only 600m of elevation gain, pretty much a bunched ride with big surges as those at the front try to break the group up. Anyway, I managed to hang in and cross the line in 12^th with a time of 04:09:07 just 10s off the podium.

 

Italy would be a completely different race with two huge climbs, nearly 20km each and 1500m change in elevation. The realist in me said that there would be no way I could be competitive in a race on that terrain and with my height and weight never mind the fact that my descending skills had been honed on the Fens. This would be a road trip and nothing more but nevertheless a world champs and just to get there as a triathlete was a buzz

 

We were held in age group pens on main road by the river in the beautiful city of Trento, a gem in the Dolomites. We were released in 3 minute intervals and of course we were the last age group off as the next age up were on a 85km and only one mountain ascent. The first 10km was on the flat so that was a complete smash fest as everyone rode hard to try and split the group up but we pretty much arrived at the base of the climb together. I certainly didn’t want to get dropped on the easy kms. As we entered the climb the front group just kept powering on as I settled into a hard effort but one I felt sustainable but it turned out it was a 90 minute power PB for the year so that plan didn’t work.

The top of the first climb was a ski station and by this time I was definitely towards the back but I was ok with that, just keep a sustainable pace so I could actually finish the ride and not be dead last. The descent was long and not that technical but with speeds more than 60kph I had to apply the brakes a few times to keep control on the bends. Onto the rolling middle section along the valley floor and by this time the field was very spread out. It would have been helpful to be in a group but I found myself in no man’s land and into the head wind, sub optimal.

 

At last we came to the base of the hill again and this time I was definitely going to ride much more conservatively, less through choice than the onset of fatigue from the first ascent. As I climbed up the second time it was clear who had qualified on a flat course and didn’t have the body morphology for an out and out climber’s course. There was some dark humour amongst us back markers as we all wrestled our way up, yearning to get to the top and finally allowing in the thought of heading back into town and the finish line. By this time there we a few of us that were swapping places depending on who felt good, then getting re-passed as they flagged again.

After what seemed like an age the summit finally came and the same kamikaze descent for what seemed like an age, the tired body adding an extra element of danger. On my own again on the valley floor and now in traffic as they had reopened the roads once the leaders had gone through. The last part was a short climb, 600m of elevation gain then left and down the hill on a poor road surface and sharp switch backs, more danger. I took it very steadily on this final part as I was so close to finishing on one piece and there was no point in racing just gain the odd place, I wasn’t going to trouble anyone wanting an extra placing.

 

Nevertheless, as I finished the descent an Australian guy came by me for about the fourth time and he was racing for that extra place. The road flattened out and was pretty easy riding, so I stuck with him. He let me by then just sat on my wheel and to be honest I didn’t have much fight left in me to put a surge in to try and drop him. We turned the final corner to the finish line and he sprinted by me all guns blazing, my legs just went pop and I rolled across the finish line perhaps 100m behind him.

 

It had been quite a day, I was shattered and to be honest I got the result I deserved. I hadn’t really trained for it having mentally opted out once I knew how challenging the course would be for a lad from the Fens. It was a great road trip and we finished off with three nights on Lake Garda. Maybe we will do it again in another 5 years. Now to set some goals for 2023, starting with smashing RAW!

11th September 2022 Vitruvian Aquabike Middle Distance - Racing with Robin

 1.9km Swim 75km Bike 

Swim 33:41 - T1 02:21 - Bike 02:01:44 Total Time 2:37:4

Winner 55 - 59 Age Group, 2^nd overall

 

The Vitruvian is a race on our doorstep and one I have done countless times, it’s a real favourite for the whole gang and is held on our regular training routes. My running has been very stop/start this year after managing to build to a reasonable 10k pace last year. I had worked up to 10 miles then run into an injury and had to stop, rehab, and build again, very frustrating. My goal was to get to a competitive 10k pace ahead of the world champs at the end of the year, but it has now turned to just completing the distance out there. 

I had no plans to do any triathlons as I didn’t want to risk another set back in my running but then I got the following email from the race organiser:

 

Hello mate,

I’m just sorting out the Vitruvian start list. The man that convinced me to add an Aquabike and my very first entry was Robin. Would you like to race for him?

 

What an honour to race for Robin, we have had so many happy times racing each other on that course. Swimming and biking wouldn’t be a problem so at short notice I was racing!

 

I wasn’t sure how I would feel race day and, in the lead up I had my ups and downs as I thought about the day and what it meant. As it turned out, on race day I was in a good place mentally and was looking forward to having a crack at the race.

 

The weather was just perfect, dry, light wind and mid-teens temperature wise. We were in the blue swim cap wave with the biggest men’s wave, so it was going to be fast. The start horn blasted and we were off, hanging on to the fastest feet we could find and boy was it a case of hanging on. We exited the first lap, and it looked like we were towards the front of the race, but it was impossible to separate who was racing the triathlon and who was in the aquabike. The second lap was a slog, but we held our position and exited in the front of group albeit I took two attempts to get out as I got cramp and fell back in.

 

A very tardy T2 as I wrestled the wetsuit off and then finally onto the bike and in a good place. It was a three-lap course as it had been altered from the usual 2 lap 40km route and it was promising to be flatter and faster. With so little race practise and this being almost the first time on the TT bike this year it was going to be interesting to see how long I could stay reasonably aero. 

 

The bike was just head down and keep pushing to the limit but not blow up. This allowed me time for my mind to wander and think about Robin but with the race on, it motivated me to keep pushing hard. I ticked off each lap and tried to ensure I held the power to the same number for each. I faded a couple of watts on the last lap, but it wasn’t a bad effort after all.

The race clock stopped as we crossed the dismount line and the timing mat there but for us the race finished when we crossed the finish line. I had pre-planned to have the Rutland Posse team colours in T2 so I could wear it for Robin and the team across the line. After a bit of faff I pulled the jersey on and then headed over the finish line with a big cheer from the crowd. It was quite an emotional moment as I stood there under the banner contemplating the race with Robin. A special moment of reflection that I hadn’t really allowed myself to have.

We will be back next year to see if we can take the win….