Well that went fast and what a change from this time 2016. No lurgy! Well thank the baby Jesus for that – eating LCHF was the best choice I made last year, my immune system, and my training has improved markedly and I’ve lost 9 kgs and many centimetres! So what’s on the board Ms Ford for 2017?
First up is the Country to Capital Ultramarathon in January – 14th to be exact which is all of four sleeps away! Go beyond ultra have set up an event that runs from the Shoulder of Mutton, Wendover, Buckinghamshire to Little Venice, London which is about 43 miles or 69ish km new money. Who’s bright idea was that then – well I was meant to do it last year but I was in no fit state to do it physically or mentally and deferred my entry. Then one of the Pirates was turning 21 again and wanted to run it for her birthday – since I managed not to die on the Humanity Direct ultra I couldn’t say no to another run out! Going to be a chilly one but should be good fun!
Go for a wee run, going to be some time!
March time brings the Ridge Off Roader Half Marathon, as there is no Rail to Trail event this year – pity as I have really enjoyed their events so far! April is still open but I may be leaning towards Liverpool to Manchester 50m ultra – not sure yet. May is holiday time – we’re heading to New Zealand for three weeks and I’m doing the Air New Zealand Hawkes Bay Marathon on the 14th – ends up in a winery! June is Giantshead Marathon – very hilly, very awesome trail marathon in Dorset run by White Star Running, also booze at the end. We’re heading up to Nottinghamshire which is the yearly trek to the Outlaw Ironman Triathlon – I marshalled last year which was a bomb with the Pirates. This year I will be part of a team with Digger and SuperCaz – I have manned up swallowed the DNF and I’m going to get our bling! Swear to God I will have all the kit under the sun or clouds – whatever – just say no to hypothermia! September is Equinox time! Going solo this year and going to try for triple figures and see where I end up, if nothing else it will be awesome fun with so many Pirates sailing in the shire. Last event of the year I’m hoping will be Wendover Woods 50m if I can get a place.
*There may also be a half IM in August, but that’s a bit tentative at the mo as I’m not sure about the training time – will decide March/April time.
I entered this event on a whim and thought it’s close to home would be rude not to! But as things often do reality got in the way of my best laid plans – in between Halloween and Easter my diet went out of the window and it all turned into a carb-palooza. Consequently I put on some weight, my immune system took a hammering and if there was a virus going in a twenty mile radius I had to catch it. It was all a bit depressing really when I began training for the various events I’d entered – everything was hard, distances I knew should be gravy would be run with rests struggling to get my breath and my mojo went out the window. When I’d get rid of one cold I’d very quickly get another one – it seemed like I couldn’t catch a break. But I refused to not start the two 10kms and a HM I’d signed up for – I was slower than a slow thing and they hurt, but I was so stubborn I was going to finish come hell or high water and I did. But I didn’t sign up to do races for me to feel like crap (not in a good way), and struggle to finish a 10k event! Swear TG that the Ridge Offroader was almost a 5k – it was a real triumph of stubbornness to not turn off at the 5k mark!
All of this made me take stock and just stop and re-evaluate on how I was eating and going about my training because I couldn’t go on like I had been. So I did some homework on LCHF, decided that was what I needed to do, and I took myself out of a few of the races I had planned to do (lucky for me my wee triathlon was postponed so I didn’t have to worry about that one). I gave myself a lead in during May and then full on LCHF in June, and cut back the training. I just wanted the body to reset itself and get used to the fact that there were very little carbs on offer and start using the fat as fuel. Which it did, although there was a four to six week dip in energy and would’ve been hard for me to train had I been in full swing and asking things of my body during that time. Long story short got rid of the carb crazies and started to burn the fat, consequently my excess lard was ever decreasing!
I specifically went out on training runs without any fuel other than the usual avocado and eggs in the morning and worked out that I could go around 2 hrs fine – more than than I suffered a bit. I did my wee sprint tri without too much tri focused training (blew up on the run due to doing body pump and an hours run the day before!), but I was happy just to be there and enjoying it rather than struggling at deaths’ door. I’d entered a local HM as well and learned a very good lesson about fuelling in preparation for race day – knowing I could run for two hours without fuel I took out a couple of nakd bars thinking that’d be enough to get me to the end – turns out I ran faster in the race than I had all year but unfortunately that meant I’d blown through all my carbs fairly early on – so from 15k I started to slow down and the wheels fell off at 18k and for the first time ever I bonked! Those last 3kms were hard work and I got to the end of the race and I was exhausted and husband got photographic evidence 😀
2 arms on 2 legs – finished face!
I also entered Equinox24 as part of a team so a 10k then a rest until the next time around – had lots of fun and it was an opportunity to get the fuelling right.
Pirates finishing Equinox24 in style!
So I was feeling good leading up to the HD ultra – never done one before didn’t know if I could but I was going to give it my best! And then I’d managed to get a wee cold the week before, not enough to stop me in my tracks but enough to be sniffly and my energy took a dip, combined with my period was enough to slow me down – so I decided to taper completely and not do any training that week! I have a tendency to overthink things and I get all panicky about stuff I cant control – so in an effort to avoid all that stress I decided to treat it like it was just another long run in my head and on Facebook it was just another parkrun! Worked like a treat.
Race Day!!
I’d been putting kumara and butternut squash back into my diet for two – three days making sure my muscles had enough glycogen to cover myself, but I didn’t want tummy issues on the day (hadnt gone this long under my own two legs before so had no idea what to expect) so I just had my normal avocado and eggs and a cuppa for brekkie. Caught the bus to Tring, with a thermos of coffee in hand – it was quite dark and foggy – perfectly good weather for a wee run! I was just super happy it wasn’t raining! The start and finish was at the Tring Cricket Clubrooms, which was a warm and inviting beacon in the mists! I collected my race number, chip and tshirt and sat down to fill in the back of the number – when I looked up the room had filled with runners in all states of dress and in some cases undress and some pretty fancy kit as well.
To be honest, they were all lovely chatty people who were gearing up to go for a wee run with their mates – unlike me – who had no idea about anything – I’ve done a trail marathon, but the last two times I tried – my body had rather gloriously failed me. It’s funny how your head plays tricks on you and the wee voice that tells you you cant pipes up – I’d run over at least two thirds of this course I knew the trails I knew that there really wasn’t anything that was going to surprise me – I just had not to injure myself or do anything silly!
There were a few hills! The last 10-16 km were hard!
I felt a tap on my arm and Meldy – witchypoo Pirate multi-IM extraordinaire, had arrived and was waiting for her running club peeps. It was good to see a familiar face amongst the many! Before long it was time to head down stairs and make for the hills! It was the usual race briefing – don’t be a dickhead and try not to kill yourself – if you do get to the next checkpoint and we’ll sort you out! Meldy popped off to the loo and then we were off – I was super cautious about starting given the cold the previous week so I decided just to run to feel. The rest of the pack took off flying and I was at the back – we were heading down the street to the turn off to the canal and I was wondering were Meldy was thinking she must have been flying when I heard a familiar voice ‘I was in the toilet!!!’ – A very pirate thing to do! Meldy went on in search of her club peeps and I hit the GU canal and was in very familiar territory!
I could see the last of the pack run off in the distance but thought don’t be running anyone else’s race Buttercup – do it a pace you can keep up! The GU canal tbh isn’t always the most picturesque and can be a bit boring in places, but the Wendover Arm as you head towards Halton is super lovely and was in fine form all green and lush. At Halton it turned off up into the Wendover Woods, which is one of my favourite places to run – love the hills, and the trails and often being out there by myself, my inner introvert loves it. At the foot of the WW was the first checkpoint and the marshalls were jiggly and lovley with the keep going – you’re looking good! *Whenever they say that I know they’re fibbing I’ve seen pictures of me running – I always look like a munter! I got excited when I saw two of the pack still at the checkpoint and when they left I was close in behind them.
After the first checkpoint we entered the Wendover Woods and went up a never ending hill! My mantra was walk the hills, run the flats – totally walked this hill and gently ran down the other side! The fog had lifted slightly and it was a great opportunity for a selfie with the Gruffalo! The ‘elite’ people started an hour after we did, and the walkers started an hour prior – the first man blew past me in the Wendover Woods – he was uber focussed and running around 7 min miles over very hilly course – he eventually finished in 4:10 which was amazing.
Have I mentioned I really don’t enjoy running on tarmac? There was a piece of tarmac running that was necessary and that was where I got my first bottom lip wobble – I was doing a power walk then a run, in the middle of the power walk one of the guys I had passed earlier in the hills, walked past me going ‘it doesn’t seem fair we are both hurting but I have longer legs’ – needless to say I was less than amused! Eventually I had a sit down and had something to eat and told acknowledged that I was feeling a bit crap but – look where I was such a lovely place to run, swallowed some ibuprofen and then I ran. I was aware of my left outside knee was a bit hurty – and given my previous history I very aware of it – but it eventually went away the more I ran on the trail – phew!
Having previously run from Ivinghoe Beacon to Wendover I knew how to get to the second checkpoint as I approached Tring – it awesome to see a whole bunch of people (walkers and runners) at C2. I sat myself down and had some squash, haribo and grapes. There was so much lovely food on offer – but a lot of it had gluten in it, so I was glad I brought my Ella’s Kitchen Banana Brekkie sachets to eat on the run. There was a sign on the gate saying it was just under half way – we all agreed that we were just going to call it half way! But eventually I realised it was time to get going again and as I left I thanked the marshals and god bless the marshall saying looking good Sharla!
I headed down towards the GU canal again hanging a hard left, the fog had lifted and the sun had come out and it was quite warm – this was the start of the bit of the course where I hadn’t run – I have to confess running down canals is quite boring. Don’t get me wrong some canals are quite lovely in part – the Wendover Arm as it heads past Halton is glorious but Aylesbury arm is all cows, boats and hedgerow and after a while boredom sets in. This portion started off lovely coming out of Tring but it got boring quickly so I cheered myself up by singing Country Road :p I didn’t enjoy the Virgin Trains speeding past the canal and interuppting my zen flow I did have to laugh at a lovely old guy who stopped me saying ‘are you one of those 50k runners? How long have you got to go? Is it for charity? I do like the skull and cross bones it looks like you mean business!’ It was a nice diversion from the monotony of the canal and it wasn’t long before I saw the arrow to leave the canal and head up over the bridge towards checkpoint 3.
Ashford Estate.
I started up the over bridge when it sounded like I got a stone in my show so I stopped and hand a look – it wasn’t a stone but a big old metal tack – I was lucky it didn’t go right through which would’ve been painful! Heading through the local estate to get back to the trails involved I stared at by the locals who thought I was a bit odd running up the road in lycra and a hydration vest. The turn off to the trail was up what looked like a driveway which finished in a garage and I wasn’t sure if it was where I was going was right until I was on top of it.
When I stopped to empty out my shoes of general trail debris *note to self buy some gaiters! I was caught up by two guys and I was like where did you come from? Turns out they were two of the quite fast guys who instead of hanging a hard left went right and continued on down the canal the wrong way adding about 3 miles onto their total. They were lovely and were like have you got enough to eat? You all good? Yup okay we need to push on – I let them go and continued on with my plodding! I entered the Ashford Estate woods and was super happy to be back on lovely woodland trail and my body was happily turning over. For a while there was no one on the trail and I was a happy chappy – until I started to see more and more people on the trail of various ages and sizes – one of the reasons I love running on trail (other than I can run for longer without my legs screaming at me) is that I hardly see anyone and it’s lots of lovely quite time for me. It just happened there was some sort of event on for young and old and it was soooo busy – have to say I was glad to see the backside of it.
Heading through the estate the number of people thinned out, although you could hear disembodied voices every now and again which was a bit disconcerting! I hadn’t run through this portion of the trail so I wasn’t entirely sure where I was going but luckily there was a lot of excellent signage. Still I was hoping the third aid station would miraculously appear out of the greenery sooner than later and out of a long straight of trees I could see bright orange in the distance low and behold there it was! I was asked what I wanted and they refilled my bladder as I had a wee sit down. As I sat down there was the most lovely doggie with the softest fur and bright blue goggles came and sat next to me with eyeballs on my cheese and I found myself giving her a good pat. I eventually realised I sat down enough and needed to get on.
As I left the walkers bringing up the rear walked in and I thought I really need to get on! I ran walked, ran walked as my legs would allow until I got to the main road through the estate, thanking the lovely marshal who’d been out there all day waiting for the last ones to come through. I got to the foot of Ivinghoe Beacon and the walkers who were doing a blistering pace and gathered me up and inspired a much faster march than I would’ve done otherwise up the side of the beacon! They started talking about a cutoff at the next aid station and how you’d be pulled off the course if you didn’t have a torch which freaked me out entirely as for some reason headtorch and cutoffs hadnt readlly osmosed their way into my head. So I got to the top of Ivinghoe Beacon and the walkers stopped to wait for their friends who were still making their way up the hill, I decided to push on. I thanked them and tried to take off as I usually do downhill – OMG my thighs were all like what are you doing woman??? I purposefully ignored them figuring I had less than 10k left and most of that was on a canal I could deal with that. I think the hikers and the dog walkers could hear me coming as the moved to the side of the path in advance of my arrival – than is until I got to the paddock of the giant cows -they were huuuuuuge and I slowed to a crawl saying hellllooo to the cows and telling them all about the run. They just mooed and looked at me like I was a bit of a loose canon. And then there was the last aide station.
I wanted to be out of the aid station quick smart, grabbing some more Haribo and squash. One of the runners was sitting down and being attended to by the marshals with oxygen so I wanted even less to have them attend to me so I pushed on getting all excited that I would be at the end very soon. Now I’m not entirely sure what was going on in my head but I had been over this bit of the course and I knew the right way to go, but I followed what I thought was the arrows and went completely the wrong direction. Duh Buttercup – I just kept going and thought well it’ll cut back into the forest soon. Except it didn’t and I popped up far away from where I should’ve been and I couldn’t get my google to work on my phone and had no real idea where I was.
So I started down the road I had come to figuring I can’t be that far away from where I should’ve been and I’d come across some where I’d recognise soon. I should wear a sign saying dont follow me! I could hear a car come up behind me and it slowed to a stop and wound down the window – the woman took one look at me and said ‘What are you doing here? You are way off the course!’ Turns out it was one of the marshalls from the aid station. I talked to her about what I was doing – and said I’m just going to go this direction and eventually I’ll hit Tring station. She was like no that road’s really busy and it’s getting dark, get in the car and I’ll drop you off where you would’ve popped out of the forest. I didn’t like that idea and said but I’d not get my medal (I was a little focussed at this point) and she was like darling you’ve done the miles, it’s okay. We got to the wee pop out point and she said ‘Where’s your head torch?’ and I said I don’t have one on me – she pushed hers into my hands and said give it to the RD when you get to the cricket pavilion, then pushed me out of her car.
I was so happy to see the canal – I rang BH and told him I was on my way! I hoofed it down the canal and up onto the little lane. Almost there, almost there, almost there was a mantra going over in my head and I got super excited when the cricket grounds came into sight and then I managed a mini sprint to the finish line! The nice marshal stripped my chip off and the RD placed my medal over my head. I gave him the head torch and told him to say thank you very much for me, and I was done. 53-54ish kms done (unsure of actual length as my Garmin went a bit haywire).
Thanks to XNRG and their excellent signage, marshals and aide stations. Can’t believe I got lost! But it was an excellent run – the longest by 10kish that I’ve ever run and such a learning experience. Onwards and upwards Buttercup!
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!
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 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.
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!
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!
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!
The ButterCup Project 