The Benefits of Training Outdoors Through the Winter Months

       

Why you should keep training outside during the winter months?

Blenheim Triathon and First Time Triathlete Tips

Blenheim was my third sprint triathlon and after a good open water swimming session with my coach a few days before, I felt fully prepared (or so I thought). I met my friend Sean in the drizzle with high spirits and went into the beautiful palace court yards to where our transition area will be. Bikes racked and wetsuits on, we picked up our swim hats and headed down to the lake. With a motivating briefing (we had to hug the person next to you and cheer), I was pumped up and ready to go!

Swim

A new type of ‘start’ for me; you had to jump off a pontoon into the lake, swim 100m to the centre of the lake and tread water for a few minutes before starting.  I jumped in at the front (not realising how many people were in my wave), which gave me time to acclimatise to the cold. However I had to bob around for a while and as the lake was only around 15degrees I started to get a little chilly.

The whistle went and I went into a steady front crawl for the first 100m. Suddenly the rush of a hundred or so other quick and stronger swimmers charged passed/over me pushing me out to the side and off course! They just kept coming and I lost my rhythm, struggling the rest of the way which was disappointing! Once being hauled out the water by very helpful volunteers, I jogged up a pretty steep hill for about half a km to transition. Passing Sean on the run (he later told me he fell over and hurt his toe exiting the water), T1 was quick. The wetsuit slipped off easily using the Vaseline trick and I avoided the temptation of drying my feet...

Bike

The bike course was fantastic; closed roads, beautiful settings, a fair few hills and the sun came out. I felt like I was flying, overtaking a fair few competitions and even having to shout out a few to move out the way!

After three laps and with a smooth transition, I ran to rack my bike. But I could not find my trainers, and jogged up and down with my bike like a headless chicken! I finally spotted my pink towel and trainers and set off on the run.

Run

The run consisted of a 5.6km (two laps) race; a quick downhill and then a long uphill around the lake. My left leg kept cramping which is strange, and I put it down to the extra effort up the hills on the bike and not drinking any water (silly move!). With a last sprint to the finish I was very pleased to receive my finishers medal! I saw Sean on the last lap of his bike as I was going into the second lap of my run so having crossed the finish line, I cheered him to the finish.

I was slower in the run than at Hyde Park but was pleased to find I got the 3rd quickest bike and run time for women overall, 10th lady and 3rd in my age group with over 1200 women. I'm pretty chuffed as I have put in a lot of work to improve my cycling and Dan’s training programmes are clearly working!

I encourage all ages and levels to give triathlons a try; it really is a sport everyone can enjoy. Especially when you pick a beautiful setting like Blenheim to race in.

Here’s what I have learnt in my first three triathlons, which I hope help you avoid the mistakes I made!

Beginners Tips for your first Triathlon;

1. Practice an open water swim in a wetsuit as much as possible before the event, and if you have time acclimatise in the water (dunk your head under and try and breathe out under water).




Holbourgh Lake (where I've started practising).

  

2. Practice transitions; you can save minutes on a smooth transition and always make sure you have your helmet on before touching the bike!

3. Look for signs/marker to memorise where you rack your bike and remember the row number. Take a bright towel to place your trainers on so you can spot it on return from bike.

4. Wear goggles under your swim hat, not over! This stops other competitors knocking them off in the scrabble! Also spit in your goggles before racing this stops them fogging up.

5. Apply Vaseline on your inner wrists, ankles and neck to stop your wetsuit rubbing. Also apply onto the outside of your wetsuit up from your ankles to knees and wrists to elbows to help it easily slide off.

6. As you exit the water, open the neck of your wetsuit to let the water gush out (this makes it easier to take the top half off when running).

7. Don't dry your feet or bother wearing socks when getting on your bike, your feet will dry on the bike (saving a lot of time).

8. Take water on the bike (this may seem simple but I have forgotten this before and forgotten to drink if I have taken it! Dehydration will not only be detrimental for your run but will also slow down your recovery time after the race).

9. Practice drinking on the bike and how much you drink. I can only sip a small amount regularly or I get a stich on the run!

10.Use elastic laces, when your adrenaline is high and you've leapt of the bike, tying laces is impossible.

11. Save some energy for a sprint finish and enjoy the race, smile at the crowds and if the race is at Blenheim, you’re encouraged to high five the spectators on your run in, which makes you feel pretty cool J

ETU Europeans – A weekend in Spain and the race now known as Alco’ Horrendous!

Where do I start....
I set off on Friday morning with my number one supporter, Mum, to Madrid. The first thing to happen was a full bag search with security as I had forgotten to take my knife (used for peanut butter on rice cakes!) out of my gym bag. That took some explaining but they let me through. After an hour's delay on the flight, we landed in Madrid and arrived at a very strange industrial town called Alcobendas. Not where you would expect to find an international event!

On arrival I grabbed my bike, quickly got changed and joined the bike recce. This was quite an experience, there were about 150 GBers cycling. This was the same time as the Elite recce so we had a police escort to follow! The bike and run course had 96 roundabouts and no flat. With hill climbing being my strength, I quite liked the course  but was concerned with the technicalities of the roundabouts and lines. I completed two laps and then joined a few other Brits for the cycle bike back to the hotel.



 Friday night also consisted of an Opening Ceremony. With the British squad dominating, there was a mayors speech, flamenco dancing and a bit of random Zumba to finish….!

Upon registering I received a large suitcase as a gift; quite strange but very generous though slightly unsure how to take this home on the flight (it went home with the bike in the end!).

Saturday:

The whole standard distance Team GB!

Today I took it easy in preparation, with a taper session of a 30 minute bike and 20 minute run with a few bursts at race pace. I set off at 7am and took some of the other ladies onto the bike course as they missed the recce the night before.  I have no idea how but after a few wrong turns we managed to find the course in this confusing town.This was then followed by a very large breakfast and the race briefing from the team managers. Going through rules, penalties and the course – it all seemed very technical which was making me quite nervous!



20-29 year old Womens team!










The afternoon was followed by a quick bike check (loose handlebars not good) and supporting the Paralympic race and the elite athletes.








RACE DAY –

5:30AM Wake up call, due to the strange organisation of the event you have to rack your bikes between 6:30-8:30am even though my race wasn’t until 12:30pm. I planned to meet Yaz (a fellow participant and incredible doctor and athlete who 12 months ago could hardly walk, let alone run due to a severe slipped disc). We met at 5:50am to get the coach and take our bikes to racking. It was cold, dark and raining heavily, not the conditions I hoped for. After waiting 20 minutes, as the racking opened late, we racked our bikes. My shoes and helmet sat getting wet in the rain for the next 6 hours, we then jumped in the coach back to the hotel for breakfast and a little kip before heading back at 10:30am. Also we had no timing chips yet as the timing chip driver had crashed on route - not the best start...!


The rain was very heavy on arrival at the site. Everybody was huddled into a sports hall to try to stay dry. 45 minutes before the start we were called back into transition. I checked my bike again and my shoes were sodden! I had a warm up here trying to keep warm in a very thin tri suit for this long time wishing I had an underliner. I knew a few of the girls from other races and knew the standard would be extremely high. My aim was to just complete the course in a good time.


The Run - we set off everyone sprinting up the hill. It was a undulating run of 4 x 2.5km laps. The crowds on the run were great and it was amazing to hear everyone shout your name and country. Starting near the back of the field, I seemed to be overtaking people each lap and I felt good and very strong. Coming into the transition 2nd in around 38 minutes felt amazing!

Transition was a bit of a disaster! As soon as I mounted my bike and before I could get my feet into my cycling shoes, an Irish competitor crashed in front of me at the first roundabout! The weather was bad now; very windy and torrential rain. Visibility was horrendous and it started hailing at some points. Barriers were blown into the road and I even saw someone fall off riding in a straight line! His bike got blown in the wind and he slipped on the white line. On the First lap of 10k I saw 4 falls! I was shivering and slow, just concentrating on not falling off but told myself to man up!
Starting the second lap, I didn’t feel right. My jaw kept locking and I couldn’t control my breathing. My only thoughts were get round, grab a jacket from Mum and start the 3rd lap. I don't remember much of the second lap. I was slower, the weather was worse, it was freezing, the road was awash with water, and I saw more falls. My muscles started locking completely and I couldn’t control my bike or breathing anymore, weaving and slowing down. As I got round to the start of the third lap, I didn’t know what was happening at all.  A marshal pulled me to the side. A  man grabbed me off the bike and the next thing I remember was being thrown in a hot shower with all my clothes on! Spanish people were asking where my dry clothes were and a lovely English guy from team GB, who competed in the morning, was giving me a hot chocolate.  Somehow Mum was found and later she said I  was pretty out of it, shivering and blue when she saw me! (She had been sheltering in the cafe after seeing me do the first lap as she was so cold but really couldn't bear to watch the bikes skidding around!).

This picture sums up the weather well at the end of the mens run.

Once warm, it hit me that I hadn’t finished and I just felt cold and devastated. Why had my body let me down ☹. I had trained so hard for this. Looking back, you can’t prepare for the weather. All, I can do is move onwards,use the experience and prepare for Worlds. Many more experienced athletes also had to stop and told me I would never experience conditions like that again! Half my race finished. During the standard distance alone, there was one broken hip (Irish guy), a few broken collar bones and 30 cases of hypothermia. This included 17 men so I wasn’t the only one!
The next race was cancelled….!!


Post Race;
Since the race, I seem to have just been eating a lot! Monday I felt very tired and still keep waking up in the night shivering or sweating but I will get over it.  I just can’t wait to race again and take out my frustration! Now to concentrate on Worlds and compete in some races  this summer….


I would just like to thank Wayne, Claudio and Ron from Team GB for coming to my rescue! Also, congratulations to the athletes who survived the course and those who won medals, I absolutely loved being in team GB and have made some great friends. I can't wait until the next big event with the team in Australia in October.

Spring New Forest Wiggle Sportive 11/4




Happy Finishers

 

Waking up in the middle of the new forest to the rain on Saturday morning was not what I wanted to see. The sky was grey and I couldn’t see any blue sky. We unenthusiastically pulled on our winter cycle gear and headed to breakfast, I had fruit, yogurt, cereals and of course  peanut butter to prepare for the 70 miles that lay ahead. The owner of the B and B and another cyclist staying seemed sure the rain would stop at 9am, I wasn’t so sure, my phone told me 12! I was seriously considering ringing Wiggle to change our entry to the Sunday.

Once arriving at the site we registered. This was very well organised with no queuing at all. I did forget the one thing I needed (my helmet) so galloped back to the car in the rain to grab it. The start was done in waves which moved very quickly, after a clear race briefing we were off... 5 minutes after our departure the sun came out and yes at 9am!

The ride was very pretty through the New forest and Moorlands, until the first feed station it was fairly flat. After 30 miles I started to feel my energy drain, but was certain when looking at the map there should be a feed station soon.  After a tough bit against the wind at 32 miles a marshall shouted "just 8 miles to the feed stop." Misreading my map the station was at 40 miles not 30. Glad I had my peanut butter! I had lost Dad for quite a while now but decided to wait for him at the station. Making a friend called Colin from Basingstoke we chatted and maintained a good pace. I was surprised to be at 40miles in just 2hrs 10, I don’t think I’ve ever being that fast?

The first feed station was amazing! Proper toilets, bananas, flap jacks, chocolate and the old school fig rolls. I filled up (maybe too much) and waited for Dad. The next leg was a little more hilly with a few humps, I was surprised to see some walking up these. I quite like hills, it was the 20mph winds in the open I struggled with. I tried to cling on to a few back wheels but even powering at a full effort it was depressing to see my speedometer say 8mph! This went on for about 8 miles.  I then saw a sign to give me some motivation stating “Still away to go, but your nearer than before” great!

The rest of the ride was well signposted and enjoyable, lots of donkeys and ponies to see and a few locals supporting the riders. At the last 3 miles I passed a rider on  a Spotter in jeans going at an impressive pace. I also followed a man without a seat; whether he lost this on route or started without one who knows! At the end I was happy with my time of 4:27 moving and was met with a medal and protein bar. I waited for Dad to finish and then trotted off on a 20 minute brick run. I wasn’t the only one doing this, must of being a lot of triathletes training. I would say I felt the jelly legs for the first 2k. Once returning I felt full knackered! After refuelling we then went to watch the Grand National no wins for me L

 

Overall the Sportive was a great event, a beautiful route, good signposts and for the amount of participants very well organised.

 

7:30am on Sunday morning (no lay ins for me!) I set out on a 12k run but my legs felt very heavy and my splits were slow.  We then planned a relaxing off-road ride through the forest. My oversized tractor of a mountain bike made this pretty tough and an easy 18 miler turned into 27 miles. By Monday I well and truly needed a rest day!