Silverstone Duathlon
I completed the first of my Votwo Silverstone Duathlons this year. I competed in this series last year and although it was a long time ago, it all felt refreshingly familiar. I was interested to see how I compared with last years results and surprisingly, my running hadn't gone down much at all and unsurprisingly my cycle was faster by 2 and a half minutes despite the enormous head wind. Looking forward to the rest of the series...
The venue is the Porsche Human Performance Centre where I had my sweat test done by H2Pro (here's my old post about it). That reminds me ... I must order some more......
Pactrac Mini Tri races
Who’s up for racing... in the week!! I am... There is a race series called the Pactrac Mini Series, they are held every Wednesday night in Oundle throughout the summer. It’s a 400 yard swim, 10mile bike and a 3.5 mile run. I joined them (with permission) for a ‘novice’ event, I got the impression these are not meant to be too serious (although I think some would disagree!) I was very impressed with some of the 'novices' too - so I am really pleased to say I won. Everyone seemed to be there to have a bit of fun and a training session with a little bit of competition. A good fast bike ride too! To quote Arnie “I’ll be back”
Box end swim sessions
I have been (since my local river was in flood) swimming at Box End Park. They have set times when you can jump in there with a wetsuit (or not) and swim. I find this really great training what with its 850m circuit round the perimeter of the lake. They are also host the TriCrazy Box End Evening off-road tri series ... next one on 15th June. The Box End Tri and The Box end Quad. So I feel that I am training at the event, always a good thing.
Time Trial
A few Thursdays ago I completed a local time trial (11.2m undulating course) and really enjoyed it. They were all really nice people and made me feel very welcome. So much so, that I decided to join SNCC (St Neots Cycling Club). I have done a couple of TT’s with them now and really enjoyed them, getting what they tell me are good times. They are weekly sessions, so just hoping for some good weather to make the most of them.
Brigg Adventure Challenge – 34k bike 10k Kayak 10k run
Now it’s worth giving a bit of back ground here, Cold, Very Wet, Windy, Massive puddles and water flowing across the bike route!
Was it really worth me getting up at 3.30am to make the long and wet drive up to Brigg for the challenge? There weren’t really enough competitors for the sprint distance, so those that had booked for the sprint took up the full distance challenge instead, including me.
Having not trained for the longer distances I did find it tougher than expected especially in the kayak leg, moving up in a race from 3 miles to 6 was hard, and yes, I can certainly say it was a challenge. I was pleased with my bike leg (4th fastest), but having got really cold on the ride, I found the kayak stage more demanding; and by the time I finished I was really really cold. Again I should be pleased, I have just moved out of the comfort of a stable Llance into an old (like, really old) Espada K1 Kayak, so sort of chuffed that I was more concerned with pushing on rather that falling in! A little thank you to Ultimate Kayaks for the paddle which I am sure helped to save my 'arms' from falling off!
Getting my legs going for the 10k off road run was tough, but I struggled along. Came 6th overall and won the fastest newcomer. Other positives about the event was the organisation, and 'hats off' to those that had given up their time to marshal the race - in that weather! It was good, I was made to feel very welcome, so despite the ‘challenging’ weather and the longer distances that I am not used to (or train for). Was it really worth me getting up at 3.30am to make the long and wet drive up to Brigg for the challenge? well ... yes, and I plan to be back for next year’s event.
1st - Matt Foulger
2nd - Ian Smith
3rd - Matt Stephenson
Diary
It’s a real shame that the Extreme 5 has been cancelled, I have now taken the decision to do the The Brigg Bomber (partly because of my ok ish experience at The Brigg Adventure Challenge)
Quadrathlons coming up...
- The Brigg Bomber in 5 weeks (15th July 2012)
- The Box End Quad in 8 weeks (5th August 2012)
- The World Championships in 9 weeks (11th August 2012)
Other Events coming up...
- TriCrazy Box End Evening off-road tri 14th June
- NiceTri Sprint Triathlon 17th June
- Silverstone Duathlon Series - 20th June
- Pactrac Tri Series Wednesday nights
- SNCC Time Trials Thursday nights
This is a tiny 49 second taster video of what I have been doing over the last couple weeks