Shepshed 7 Race Report

The day dawned all blue sky after a couple of days of rain – WIN.  It was a bit blustery but all good. SuperCaz and Andy turned up on the doorstep looking a bit chilly so I took them in and phaffed around getting myself ready and then we were off – not very far as the start line was only down the street really.  We got ourselves registered and realised there was no baggage drop area and apparently the locals were honest and everyone just left their bags in the school hall.  We were shepherded down to the start line – it was quite chilly by this point and we had to wait a bit but all good – waved to husband and eventually they fired the gun and we were off!

SuperCaz had previously said for us to run our own races (paraphrasing :D) so I made a speedy start – really got to learn to pace myself better!  I look like Im in pain in the photos I’m not I was just thinking about where my feet were going – the start line and first half km ran across the schools soggy rugby fields and the wind had picked up since leaving home.  The course consisted of two laps that exited the school grounds and headed out on to Butthole lane (I kid you not that’s its name), over the M1 and through rapeseed fields and skirted the side of the Garendon farm before running through the estate, past the duckpond and up a low gradient hill, past the folly and up a steeper hill and under the M1 again and through quiet side streets up to the High School.

Much like the Royal Parks half I saw someone I could keep up with and mentally latched onto them (thank you Sarah of the purple shirt).  I lost Sarah, as she kicked up a gear when her friend ran past her.  I ran for a while with the herd – as we reached the school for the first time (I for some reason thought it was one lap round :p) I heard the MC boom over the speakers “Well done Laydees only one more lap to go” WTF?!! Arrrghh Suckitup Buttercup – get over it and get around!!  By this time the wind had picked up a lot and the tape outlining the course across the fields sounded like it was going to take off and the ground had got a lot more slippery.  Running through the fields I could hear really loud footsteps behind me and really heavy breathing – thinking to myself it’s a race not midnight on some dodgey back street of Loughborough :p hope they’re okay, as this guy who was running bent over passed me – WTF??

Looked at my Garmin which said 46 mins for 8ish ks and I went hmm I can do that (I wanted to do better than my time in the Royal Parks half) so I put my foot on the gas a little bit more and then I realised that there was the big hill of the course up ahead standing between me and a PB.  May have said naughty words in my head and decided to try a bit harder and passed a few people on the way up the hill.  I surprised myself with the power I had in my legs at this point and didn’t slow down.  I wasn’t looking at my Garmin when it went past the 10K mark and I thought I had taken 60ish mins to do it in and thought Im okay with that.

It was at this point I caught up to the lady in pink (who had previously overtaken) and passed her.  I hit the top of the hill and just let myself run fast downhill, and then running under the M1 overpass and heard footsteps behind me – it was the lady in pink who wasn’t so keen on me passing her and had kicked up a gear.  Fair snuff – I am running my own race Mrs go hard as she passed me again and ran off about 100metres or so ahead of me.  As we hit the side streets again I, inappropriately, thought feck it! And ran to catch her – it was mostly all uphill gradient to the high school – I caught her as we entered the school grounds.  Unfortunately the ground by this point was rather soft and I had no trail shoes on – but tapped her on the small of the back and said come on then – she took one look at me and started running hard towards the finish line!

I laughed and sprinted as far as I could – obviously we both could’ve run the race faster as we sprinted to the finish line – she beat me by 1 second – loved it.  Loved the race photos of our finish too!

Gun time for the 7 miles was 1:09:02 but my garmin says the actual time was around 1:08:35 and after downloading my run data I found I had a new PB for my 10K of 58.45 which I was stoked with.  I think I must just run better in the cold than warmer weather!

The Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon 2013 Race Report

Well after not the best nights sleep, I dug into my pot of yoghurt and muesli (not GF but beggars cant be choosers) and a banana.  All washed down with a spanking cup of tea we left the hotel and headed towards Kings Cross St Pancras following the peeps in lycra making their way to the tube.  We literally squished ourselves on to the train to Knightsbridge – soooo many peoples going to Hyde Park.  After peeling ourselves out of the train and finding the main stage and the loos I lined up and was duely scarred by the grotty nature of the non flushing loos.  I gave husband a kiss and my hoodie and sent him on his way.  I may have participated in the group warm up, cannot guarantee my level of coordination!

I headed towards the green ramp, which matched my race number.  Got in line and waited to be told to go – ignored all the men jumping the barriers to pee on the building opposite and tried to avoid sweaty armpits – not that I could see anything anyway as I was surrounded by rather large men.  At which point I looked down and looked at other peeps numbers and realised that my shade of green was not the same as theirs, it was yellow (but looked like green to me) and I was in the wrong place – Eeeek! Too late to move now was stuck surrounded by large and fast wildebeesties and had to go with the flow.

Luckily I appeared not to be the only person who was in the wrong place but who was setting a good place so I followed her.  After about a mile she slowed down so I side stepped and continued on my search for someone elses feet to follow.  Enter perky runner number two – very perky and strident with her bun and all matching kit – she was running a bit faster than number 1.  So I picked up my pace and latched on for dear life as I ran past Big ben towards the London Eye then down towards Temple.  Tbh it got a bit hard around here and HOT!! I headed over towards the water station and drenched myself promptly losing Ms Perky *sad face* everyone else was going a bit faster than me at this point (heading back towards Green Park as I looked down at my Garmin to realise I had just done 10km just shy of an hour FTW!!! Beyond what I thought I could do – was well chuffed – it was also about that point I went hmmm that would be great if it was a 10km race Buttercup – but it’s not there’s another 11 km to go!!

Running through Green Park was a bit hard it was hot and I thought I had blown it by going too fast over the first 10km.  I then found someone else to run behind except she kept on stopping to walk, so we played a bit of cat and mouse me running ahead while she walked and her catching up after a while.  Heading back into Hyde Park (at which point I was like Yayayay – am not going to be cleared off the course when they reopen the roads!!) and people were screaming support but I found it a bit off putting tbh and it continued to be a bit hard work.  But then I saw the pace maker run past me with his flag saying 2:00hrs bouncing behind him.   2 hrs you say says my tired brain well if I follow him for a while it cant be all that bad so I picked up the pace – apparently my legs were just being lazy.  I followed Mr 2 hrs until about 15k (in my head around 10k I had told myself that I wasn’t allowed to walk until at least 15k and even then maybe not at all) when I was running running running and then all of a sudden I wasn’t I wasn’t I was walking going WTF – freaking subconscious taking me literally!!  I walked for about 100 metres then started running again at which point Lady runner no 1 passed me and I went – err not having that so I caught up to her and followed her feet.

Except she would walk every now and again and I tapped her on the small of the back – saying no chickie you cant stop Im following your feet come on!  She picked her pace up for a while and I fell in behind following – but she kept on wanting to walk and I was like we’re only about 5km away now keep going!  If you need to follow me it’s all good!  We continued on in a cat mouse type fashion until she gave up and just walked as she said her knee was hurting too much.  At which point I had to say goodbye saying I have to RUN!!  And I ran!! I saw the 2:10 pace maker go past and tried my best to keep up with him but that wasn’t happening for too long.  By this point I was tired by my legs were turning over and I was doing okay until I realised at somepoint I had dropped my last gel from my belt *very sad face*

Fck it no time to pack a tanty – I pulled up my big girl undies and kept on going eww and my legs were still going until about 20km where it started to get hard not just mentally hard my thighs were starting to burn – I was thinking not far now just get there woman!!  I continued on past pretty trees and very large golden buildings but I tbh paid them very little attention as I was approaching ‘the Blerch’ (google blerch and oatmeal) where I started to slow down cause everything hurt.  At 21k (as told by my Garmin) I was like well where’s the finish line then??? Apparently almost another km away – which made my mental toughness cry on the inside just a little bit.  And I started to run walk as I thought I had very little left (I wasn’t the only one as there were quite a few people weaving, and either being helped to sit down or lying down on the ground – it was a bit brutal).  Then I saw the 800m marker and went well TFG for that!! I started running again not fast but I wasn’t walking and when I got to the 400m marker I said fck it who really wants to walk home any ways?? And I ran as hard as I could to the finish line overtaking a few peeps, smiling at the nice camera guy as I went past.

I grabbed a banana, a water and my medal and I was done.  As was everyone else including another poor soul who had collapsed half way down the finish shoot.  It was a slow walk to that patch of ground under a nice oak tree where I had a little lie down – just for a bit.  So I did it PB’s all round 5km 27mins, 10km 59.55mins (and I will take that 5 seconds thank you very much) and a much slower rest of the run but I the official time was 2:28:30 but since it was longer than expected Im going by what my garmin said which was about 2:20ish.  Go me!!

And as far as I’m concerned Pret your Tuna nicoise salad and Miso soup were the shiz as afters.

The Wild Boar Half-Ironman Triathlon Race Report

The day started early before the sun got up.  Large brekkie, packed everything up and loaded it into the car.  Got to Bosworth Water Park in good time, registered and set up the bike and kit to find I had left the bike shoes at home!  Mad sprint across carpark to husband and made him go back and get them.  Which he did in very good time!  Had a good chat to SuperCaz, Red-dog-Chris, JP and Cake before I escaped off to manhandle myself into my wettie when I found MC lurking around the loos and got her to help me squish my flubber into the sausage casing (I always feel like a sausage wearing my wetsuit).

 

Got into the water to swim to the start – have to say the weed was hideous yesterday – I think the cull they did a couple of weeks back just made it grow more vigorously.  Started at the back still managed to get a whack to the head, but all good.   There were some very speedy swimmers in that lot! I would have liked to get on and do some drafting but that wasn’t an option.  I wasn’t the last out and I made the time I expected and was happy to get out of the water and on to the bike.

 

I was surprised to see Cake in transition as I thought everyone would be long gone.    Out onto the bike and I didn’t get passed by the uber fast boys until 1.5 laps along so I wasn’t too unhappy with that.  The wind took it’s toll – the course is ‘relatively’ flat but that wind is a killer.  I pinched Cakes caramello bunnies and thank goodness I did as I had forgotten my bananas and left two of my nakd bars in transition.  I stopped later for a banana and a bottle of high5 but I think it was a bit late by that point.  I also dropped one of my remaining bars on the bike course.   So really Cake’s bunnies reclaimed at least some of the day.  Loved the bike support from Mrs D, MC and Super Caz!!

Off the bike I wasn’t last the young guy (who was very polite when I asked him if he was okay on the last lap of the bike) was about 20 minutes? Half an hour behind me.  I was okay with my bike it was about 20 minutes longer than I had anticipated but given the conditions and my nutrition levels I was okay with it.

With my borrowed visor (thank you Mr Digger) I headed out and saw Red_dog_Chris in the distance and thought sweet will just keep my eyes on him.  Which worked for about the first 3 kms until my legs decided that they had had enough for the day thank you very much.  About which time I got passed by some very fast peeps including a very smiley Joddly!  And I wanted to go faster – got a bit frustrated with myself have to say I wasn’t meeting the times I thought I should be able to do.   Have to say the lovely lady marshals singing ‘build me up Buttercup’ to me at the turn around point was a neat surprise and kept me going!  I told myself I wasn’t allowed to walk for at least the first 10k and I didn’t.  The third 5k was not good for mental toughness – walked for bits of it.

The last 5k was just plain hard graft – not helped by three large tractors going at speed trying to mow me down!  I have to say I perked up a bit (at least mentally) when I saw Mrs D and MC who were just out for a stroll and “ran” with me the last km.   I was a bit overwhelmed when everyone at the finish line break into song and run with me to the end! I have never had such a neat bunch of people sing to me!!

My legs were just knackered (literally shaking holding me up) at the end, I was quite smelly (the deodorant gave out about half an hour into the run), but I finished!  It was a win for mental toughness and a hard lesson in getting my nutrition right on the bike.

At the beginning of this year I couldn’t swim more than 25m without feeling like I was dying, I had never run since high school, biking was the only thing I felt I could do.  Now I know I can do all three – just need to get faster and improve the tuning on my internal engine!  I would like to do this event again to see what a years improvement can do.

Thank you very much Pirates and Piratey other halves your support was beyond awesome.

The Little Piglet Sprint Triathlon

Well I woke hubby up at the crack of dawn, loaded the car and after having wee wibbles about the upcoming day hit the road bound for Market Bosworth.  First off I have to say I am so glad the rain stayed away – it was quite windy out on the bike course but you can’t have everything!  I completed the little piggy sprint triathlon in 2hrs almost on the dot and came 48th I think.

Swim:

This is what I had the most wibbles about prior but not one to back out of a challenge I lubed myself up to the eyeballs, squished myself into the wetsuit, felt like a sausage and got in the positively balmy 15C water awaiting the marshalls start.  I have to say not having ever swum any great distance in OW prior it showed and I got my a**e handed to me in quick fashion  masses of weeds, almost being kicked in the face and not being able to keep my feet in the water when I was swimming leads me to believe that I need a lot more practice at this portion of the event!  I ended up doing a smoosh of BS and FC and exited the water dead last but I didn’t give up, just sucked it up and kept on going.  I knew once I hit the bike I would be fine – it was just getting there that was hard work – Man those buoys seemed so very far away!

Time: 29.27

T1:

Transition consisted of me pulling the wetsuit off in quick time, whacking my helmet on and donning the pirate shirt – it occurred to me as I was doing it that perhaps putting it on under my wettie would’ve been the better idea but eh live and learn.  I grabbed a banana, and a couple of gels and decided to forgo the armwarmers and the calve comp gear as they would’ve taken too long to get on.

Time: 3.58

Bike:

Really enjoyed the bike and since I was last I just went hell for leather and caught one guy but everyone else was already long gone – so it was almost like a nice wee bike ride out but with arrows   I really liked the course – could be quite a fast one come September which makes me happy!  There was a headwind for the first 8 or so km but I just put my head down and kept on going.  My average moving speed was 15.2mph so I’m happy with that – room for improvement!

Time: 51:50

T2:

Decided to forgo hat and comp gear just put on shoes quick as I could and got out of there.  So quickly I forgot to grab my garmin off the bike!

Time: 1:47

Run:

It took half a lap for my legs to get over themselves and just run but once they did it was a good run.  I enjoyed myself and although I have to say running on the grass isn’t what I’m used to I also got over that!  With no garmin telling me my heart rate I just figured I would run at a comfortable speed that I could finish without stopping.  I did have to stop once when I grabbed a drink I went to sip it and ended up wearing most of it  I am soooo elegant – not!  I liked the flat flat course and that also bodes well for September!

Time: 33:24

So all in all for someone who has never done a tri before I think I did okay – my cycle and run times were a little slower than I was expecting but I think that was just a cumulative thing and I’m well sure I can improve on it.  Big takeaway message was that I need to get out in the OW and swim with the freaking fishes man!