Liverpool Triathlon - Olympic Distance

What a fantastic event this was!  The crowds were out, the Mersey Tri athletes were out in force, Mersey Tri support was fantastic, pro triathletes were racing and even the sun made a long overdue appearance.

As for my race, well it was a good one!

I was expecting to race better than last year (2.20) - ideally a 2.15 - as I knew my training has gone well this year.  However my training focus has been on longer, slower distance races  rather than speed so I didn't really know what to expect.  I had continued to train normally through the week, including two big sessions (a 100 mile cycle and a 20 mile run), but took it easier on Friday and Saturday to prepare.

Smiling at the front!

Back to the race.  Into the water, I bullishly swam straight to the front and towards the left hand side.  Paddled about a bit, waved at Lynn in the crowd and then got myself set.  The start hooter went off without warning, and we were away!  The first couple of hundred metres up to the first turn were a little chaotic, with people swimming in all sorts of directions.  My legs were swum over by a couple of people and I got hit a few times in the scrum.  Eventually, I picked up the pace and got myself clear of the crowds.

Super drafting!

By the first turn, one swimmer had taken off and was way ahead, leaving a small ‘chase pack’ of three (including myself) ahead of the rest of the field.

One of our group (the first female swimmer as it turns out) shot off the front, leaving the two of us to swim together.  I drafted off his feet for the rest of the swim, cheekily overtaking him with about 100m to go to exit the water in 3^rd position.

Out of the swim in 20 minutes – but this included the long run from the water along the tarmac surface to transition (about 200m?).

3rd out of the water

Transition was smooth.  Wetsuit off quickly then glasses, helmet, socks, shoes, bike, away!  Ran about 20 metres and realised I’d forgotten to put my number belt on.  Doh!  Parked the bike on the edge of a bike rack and ran back to get it and put it on.  3^rd into transition, 6^th out!

As soon as I hit the bike course, Stuart Hayes zoomed past for his second lap (we only started the swim after they had finished theirs).  The roads were quiet and I could get my head down and pedal.  Legs were a little tired, which I didn’t think was a very good sign!  They felt so much better after the first lap and I began to pick my pace up a little, averaging 37kph for the next couple of laps.

Zooooooooom!!!

As my bike progressed, more and more people were on the course, making it a little congested.  Having said that, it felt great to overtake people on the bike!  Support on the bike course was fantastic, with people cheering ‘Mersey Tri’ and ‘Go Bryan’ all along the course, with one of the pro’s (Jared Woodford) yelling encouragement to me as he whizzed past.  With support like that I felt like one of the professionals!

Into transition, not many bikes there.  Quick change and back out on the run.

Beware of the gel!

Started running a little too quickly and felt dreadful!  Slowed it down then had some of my new, never tried out before gel (Zipvit) and it wasn’t good!  Only managed half of it, washed down with several cups of water at the aid station.  After about 3k I started to feel better (maybe the gel worked?) and my pace averaged at about 4.10 – 4.12k pace.  Happily I managed to keep this up for the rest of the run.  Once again, the crowds on the run were fantastic, making lots of noise and high fiving me as I went past!  Thankfully I avoided cramping hamstrings, despite the constant threat of them striking, by shortening my stride as I neared the end of the run.

I finished the race with a massive PB, in 2 hours and 13 minutes, taking seven minutes off last year’s effort.  I also came in 19^th place overall, 7^th in my age group and my highest position since taking up triathlon!  Got to be pleased with that!!

Swim	T1	Bike	T2	Run	Total	Position	Category
20:38	1:53	1:08:24	1:09	41:54	2:13:56	19/627	7/92

Welcome to Hell (Bala Middle Distance 2011)

This was my first race of the season and my fourth time competing in Bala Middle Distance Triathlon – which is a big proportion of the 9 triathlons I’ve done!  It is always a good race to test where I am compared to previous seasons and what shape I’m currently in.  

Dark clouds ... a sign of things to come!

Lynn and I decided that camping in Bala for the weekend would be a good idea, so off we set on Friday, pitching our tent in glorious sunshine, which was swiftly followed by a downpour, and then sunshine again!  In the intermittent sunshine I went out for a bike ride to check out some of the course before we were joined at the campsite by Jon Moorhouse (who was doing his first ever Middle Distance triathlon) & family. 

Charity Swim

On the Saturday, we all decided to enter the Charity swim.  Lynn and Jon would be doing the 750m swim, then after a quick swap of children and a dog, Hannah and I would be swimming the 1500m. 

The wind was up and the weather was a bit miserable, until just before the swim start, when the sun came out!  Lynn (in her first ever open water race) and Jon battled through the waves to record great performances in testing conditions.  

No more waves!

I didn’t appreciate how hard the water was to swim in until I entered the chilled water and started the race.  The waves were unsettling the water and making it very difficult to swim in.  I headed off pretty steady, making my way through the field as I headed towards the buoys.  By the time I got the second buoy (the supposed turnaround point) I was in third place, on the feet of 1 & 2.  My plan was to sit on their feet until about 200m to go and then go for the win!  However, confusion struck!  I started to go left to turn around the buoy but the canoeist and the first two swimmers carried on!  A group of swimmers, including myself, stopped and treaded water for a while discussing the course with a second canoeist!  A few swimmers went straight on, ignoring the crowd that was forming, whilst others made the decision to ignore the canoeist and turn at the buoy.  I decided to follow the lead swimmers – who must have been 100m ahead by now – and do this version of the course!  

Bike set up and ready to go!

I swam on, trying to concentrate on technique, whilst waves crashed all around me.  I ended up 8^th overall – but in reality it was 4^th as four swimmers ahead of me had cut the course short and turned at the second buoy.  It was a pretty slow time too – finishing in 25 minutes which reflected both the time spent treading water and the bouncing water conditions. 

The rest of the day was spent trying to get warm, sorting out my stuff for the morning – bike, kit, gels etc – and eating!

Pre-Race

The following morning I unzipped the tent at 6am to be confronted by fog!  It was freezing.  I wrapped up, ate my porridge and nutella and went through my pre-race prep before heading off with Lynn and Jon to the race.  On the way over, it started to rain.  Oh great.

All smiles before the start

Met up with a few of the MerseyTri guys (Jamie, James, Andy) all kitted out in the new MerseyTri kit.  I didn’t hang about in transition, preferring to take shelter in the sports hall where I was body marked and then picked up my timing chip.  I left setting up transition until the last moment as I didn’t want all my stuff to get wet! Ha!!

Swim

I was one of last to get in the water, not that I wasn’t ready, rather I didn’t want to hang around in the cold water for too long.  I made it to the front row, about the middle of the line, when the start hooter went.  Ideally I wanted to move further to the left to get on the feet of the fast swimmers.  Hey ho. 

Numb hands and feet!

Off I went into some clear water.  As I really wanted to draft I made my way to the left.  I was swimming with a couple of other guys who were swimming at more or less the same pace but I couldn’t see others in front of me.  Doh!  I’d missed my draft.  Then, after about 600 metres, the tri-Gods must have heard my plea and sent a faster swimmer to come past me on my right.  I left the other guys around me, picked up the pace and jumped on his feet.  This was brilliant!  I was drafting right on his feet, (touching them a bit too much really) all the way until the turn buoy – when we had to return back to transition.  That’s when the waves hit!  If I thought yesterday’s swim was tough, that was because I hadn’t experienced anything like today’s swim before.  I was bouncing over the water and felt sick.  Technique went out of the window.  Legs started kicking.  Arms swinging.  I was battling the water.  

I lost the feet in front of me too.  He had decided to take an unorthodox route to the finish, which although directly in front of us, involved a lot of left and right hand turns.  Maybe he was doing this to keep warm – because the water at 13 degrees was very cold!  I was sighting regularly and knew I was heading in the right direction so kept up my lone battle with the waves.  I picked up a set of feet again with about 400m to go and drafted to the finish, overtaking the swimmer in front at the pontoon.

What a swim!

I exited the water in 33 minutes – which was 4 minutes slower than last year, but in a much higher position, exiting the water in the top 10.  In hindsight, the tougher swim probably contributed to a higher overall finish position and one of the reasons fewer people than normal passed me on the bike.

Transition

As soon as I got onto the pontoon, I started taking my wetsuit off, and within seconds of reaching transition it was off.  Excellent! However I had to deal with the rest of transition with numb hands.  In transition lay my long sleeved MerseyTri cycle jersey, which I had left there to put on if it was really cold.  It was really cold.  The jersey eventually went on, although the zipp was a bit fiddly when your fingers don’t work.  Sunglasses (!) on.  Helmet on.  Grab bike.  Boom!

Bike

I made my way out through Bala where the rain seemed to get worse.  I spun up the first hill – but it seemed harder than it should have been.  Put those thoughts away Bryan!  Onto the flat roads and down on my aerobars I noticed my HR monitor was not synced up with my Garmin.  I fiddled with it for a minute (brain had frozen) then decided to do the bike by feel and perceived effort rather than HR.  Well, I’ve never done that before!  Back onto my aerobars and moving quite nicely, not being overtaken (this was very unusual!), keeping my breathing and effort in check.  I was staying on my aerobars for as long as possible going uphills, spinning as easy a gear as possible.  The cold was now getting worse.  I had numb fingers and feet.  The MerseyTri long sleeved cycle jersey was doing the trick though as my torso was quite ‘warm’!  

Up and over the ‘10% hill’ and onto the descent.  That was scary!  The strong crosswinds caught my deep section wheels and started taking me to the right.  It was very wet underneath and I was going quite fast.  I tried braking but only succeeded in skidding.  I let the bike go a little, crossed the white line and onto the other side of the road.  Woah!  I managed to get it under control and return to my side of the road before a couple of cars and caravans approached.  From then on all descents had my full attention, keeping my hands near to the brakes!  After the left turn, I hit some very fast speeds, which could only mean one thing ... nightmare headwind on the way back!  I counted the riders that had reached the turnaround point and were coming back at me – and it appeared that I was in the top 20.  At the half way point, assuming the second half of the course had as much up and down as the first half, it appeared that I was on for a 2 hours and 30 minute bike split!  I was racing well. 

At this point, nutrition and hydration was going well.  Having a good gulp from my gel bottle every 20 minutes, washed down with some water seemed to be doing the trick.  However, at the turnaround, I picked up a water bottle and tried to squeeze into my front aero bottle but the top kept shutting and it was proving difficult to fill up on the move.  Rather than stop, I drank as much as I was able to over the next kilometre and then through the bottle away!!  I still had about one third of a bottle of water left – surely that would be enough?!  I started to feel a bit bloated with all of the gel, which was a sign that I was either having it too regularly (maybe every 25 minutes would have been better?) or that I was putting too much effort into the bike so I wasn’t digesting it properly.  Either way, at the next 20 minute bleep on my watch I didn’t take any gel, resuming regular nutrition at the next beep instead.    

Cycling back towards home I saw some very cold and wet athletes coming towards me and heading for the turnaround.  Spotted a few clubmates, all looking very cold – but very focussed!  Into the wind, on a slight incline, and the legs started to cramp due to the cold!  Great!  I spoke too soon about a great bike leg.  I eased off a little to spin the legs and relieve the cramps, when two or three people passed me at this point.  I kept plugging away pedalling easy gears.  The hills came and I was cramping in both legs as I was climbing!  Not good!!

To compound my misery, my chain came off as I was climbing and as I got off my bike to sort it out, my legs cramped up again!  I had to spend a few moments stretching the muscles, before fixing the chain and mounting the bike.  In the meantime I was passed by another rider.

The next few miles were tough on my legs – with constant cramps.  Maybe that’s why the 10% hill (which is more than 10% by the way!) was tougher than last year!  Onto the last 20k of the bike, which was still hard with the headwind hitting, and I finally managed to shake off the cramps and able to hit some higher speeds – at last!  It was pretty lonely riding though with no riders in front and none behind me until I managed to catch a rider struggling up the last hill going into Bala.  A controlled descent into town and I was back into transition.

Transition

Not many bikes in transition

Back into transition and I was amazed at how few bikes were there.  I really was having a good race.  T2 started slowly as I couldn’t take my helmet off!  My numb hands struck again!  A marshal came over and helped take it off for me, then stood over me whilst I finished transition (to make sure I was ok I think).  I then heard over the tannoy that 17 riders had DNF’d and were stuck on the bike course and could people help bring them and their bikes back.  Wow!

Run

As I headed out of T2 I couldn’t feel my feet!  I cramped almost immediately too.  This wasn’t good!!  Stretched out the muscles again, before I plodded at 5 minute per k pace, hoping that the feeling would return in my feet before long!  I fixed the link between my HR monitor and my Garmin and was running nicely in zone 2, as the pace gently creeped up to 4.45k pace.

That was tough!

Experience of this race tells me to expect the leaders to come back passed me early on the run.  However, I reached the 6k mark before the first athlete went passed, going the other way.  This meant I was within 8k of the lead.  That sounds a lot, and it is, but it is the closest I’ve been yet!  I then reached 7k before the 3^rd person had passed me.  This meant that most of the people ahead of me weren’t actually that far ahead of me.  As always, though, the Bala run course takes its toll and I was soon struggling up some of the hills.  My pace slowed up the hills to the turnaround, which I reached in 51 minutes and change.  Once I hit the turnaround, I picked up the pace and made my way to the finish.  I saw Andy and Jamie both running strong in the opposite direction and knew my run would have to be strong on the second half to hold them off.  For the most part it was.  Slow going up hills, but I maintained a pretty consistent pace, reeling in a couple of runners in the last couple of k’s.

Good performance ... all things considered!

I finished the race in 5 hours and five minutes and in 46^th place overall, and whilst 7 minutes slower than last year I did improve by 139 places!  For the first time ever I didn’t get beaten by a female athlete!  

To put the race, and my performance, into context, the 2^nd place athlete finished 20 minutes slower than he did last year. Suddenly my seven minute time difference doesn't feel too bad!

Outside perspective

The race director wrote in his race report “After all the years of good weather at Bala we had ‘A Perfect Storm’ with a number of factors coming together for a horrid day for racers and logistically for organisers and the crew. The constant rain was predicted but the unpredictability of the wind was not, above all the cold (4 degrees in June!) caught people out in a middle distance race exposing people to the elements for longer than normal. Frozen from a long swim (and longer than normal due to the waves), unable to warm up on the bike, wind chill on a cold wet body, too scared to push hard on the bike because of the wind, unsuitable clothing for the conditions (full winter kit was essential) contrived maliciously. The poor weather sent caravans and holiday traffic home early causing problems on the roads”.

Building Into May

With Base Training completed, and the Build Period beginning, we’re edging ever closer to the business end of the season – racing!  Some may say that race season started way back in January with the Helsby Half Marathon, but I’m talking about the real stuff, triathlon racing!

As my races approach, training now seems to take on greater importance.  Sessions need to be more specific and focussed on race day(s) and to an extent that’s what I’ve tried to do.  This month running sessions have generally been run at a slower pace, and are longer in distance.  Swimming – well I’ve managed to put the wetsuit on and get into open water four times in May!  The sets in the pool have been focussed on distance rather than speedy intervals.  Cycling has been less race specific, although the TT bike did make an appearance on a couple of occasions.  I’ve managed to cycle the IMUK course a couple of times so I know what I’ve let myself in for.  I’ve even had a sports massage this month – things must be getting serious!

Total time spent training this month has amounted to almost 62 hours.  I’ve actually spent a lot longer than this on the bike, in the water or on the road, but this is the ‘moving time’ i.e. the amount of time actually cycling rather than stopped figuring out directions, taking a call of nature or just faffing!

62 hours is the most I’ve managed in a single month this year.  This is largely down to the amount of time spent training in Ireland with Mersey Tri.  More than 33 hours were clocked up during eight days!  As I write this, I’m feeling the benefits of that hard week.  Cycling is feeling good and running is comfortable.  Even an open water swim felt good at the weekend!

As for the breakdown:

Swim

Wetsuit practice required!

I managed 9 sessions in 5 hours & 30 minutes.  4 of these ‘sessions’ were in open water and didn’t last very long or consist of much swimming!  They were still useful – getting the wetsuit on and off, testing out new goggles, feeling the cold water again. 

Bike

I clocked up 39 hours and 10 minutes cycling time, covering over 900k in the process.  However, the month started off very slowly.  After a big April (almost 1100k on the bike), the first week in May consisted of one very short effort on the TT bike (15k at the club duathlon final).  The 900k did not include one 100 mile ride but instead consisted of five rides of over 100k (four of those in Ireland) and the rest shorter rides.  A total of 610k was completed during the Ireland trip.  The other long ride was 140k, and that was spent riding to the IMUK course, doing one lap and then coming home – all in terrible rain and wind!

Run

This month I managed my biggest running month of the year – breaking the 200k barrier to clock up 208k (16 hours 50 minutes).  12 of the 23 session were over 10k (compared to 9 in April and 8 in March).  However, with Ireland taking up a large proportion of the month, I only managed to fit in one long run (27k).  My focus on many of these runs was trying to dial in my Ironman running pace.

Racing This Month

Despite the start of the triathlon season, races were thin on the ground this month due to the Ireland trip spanning two weekends.  I did manage one race, one race-like effort and I was also a spectator at a race - if that counts?

The race was the Mersey Tri duathlon final (see race report).  I did manage to run my quickest ever 5k (18.45), have a decent bike leg and then run very quick off the bike (11.02).  I was pleased with that race! 

The race-like session was again running – at the Mersey Tri 3k TT running session.  I managed to PB this race, clocking a 10.57 and coming in third overall.

As for being a spectator, I went along to the Liverpool Womens 10k to watch Lynn run her first ever 10k.  This was a great experience and I was so pleased for Lynn when she finished the race in a super time of 1 hour and six minutes.

This month also saw me take a trip to the bike shop (Quinns) to start preparing for my IM races.  I asked them to fit a bigger cassette onto the bike to give me an extra gear or two for the hills in IMUK and IM Wales!

Looking Ahead!

So, onto June and all that brings.  This will be the last big, complete month of training.  It will also be the start of the race season with Bala Middle Distance on 12^th June and Liverpool Olympic Distance Triathlon on 26^th June.  On 30^th June, I will travel down to Lands End to begin our LEJOG challenge.

This is the month where the fun begins!

Mersey Tri - Northern Ireland Tour 2011

Prologue
Nineteen MerseyTri members of varying experience – from Kona qualifier to several who hadn’t completed a triathlon – made the trip to Northern Ireland for a week of triathlon training.

Commemorative tour jerseys – the first unveiling of the new Mersey Tri club kit – and the essential tour cards with maps, phone numbers and itineraries were issued on the overnight boat from Liverpool to Belfast during our informal briefing session.

The briefing also covered the infamous points competition, which consisted of +1 for a swim, bike and run each day, +1 for quote of the day, +1 for bravery and +1 for driving the van.  It also consisted of -1 for negativity, -1 for untidiness and -1 for general faffing.  Points were to be awarded each night during ‘Points School’.  This competition was to prove motivational and provided us with a lot of laughs throughout the week.

During the journey, two giant home-made cakes were put in front of us all to snack on. They didn’t last long.  The tone of the week, and the unofficial eating challenge, was set.

Arriving in Belfast, we were greeted by some cold and windy weather.  This was to be a theme of the week.  Undeterred, we ambled off the boat and got ourselves ready for the opening ride of the trip.

How good do we all look?!

Day 1 – Belfast to Gortin
Four seasons in one day, open water swimming and a long slog to the finish
Awash in the light blue (Astana) colours of the Mersey Tri tour jersey we formed a giant peloton and began cycling through Belfast docks on a cold Sunday morning towards the more sedate and tranquil country roads.  Before we reached these roads, and less than 10k into the ride, we had to conquer our first hill of the week – the small matter of a 20% climb.  That one warmed the legs a little!

The group was well disciplined, keeping together for the most part.  It was great to see different people come to the front of the pack and lead, enthusiasm of the group shining through despite the very ‘changeable’ weather. Our cycling to Gortin was to include a swim session at a small marina en route, more or less at the half way point.  Although cold, wet and a bit tired after the first part of our cycle, our enthusiasm (there’s that word again) got the better of us as we stripped down and donned our wetsuits before jumping headlong into the cold, cold water.  The locals thought we were a bit crackers … and weren’t afraid to tell us!

Once dry and warmed up again, we set off in three groups to accommodate the different speeds and ambitions of individuals.  Although I was feeling fresh and up for a fast ride, I had a Garmin with the maps and so volunteered to cycle with group three, the slower (or more tired) of the three groups.  This section of cycling was certainly harder than the pre-swim section, with more hills appearing, each one longer and steeper than the previous and the wind increasing in power.  This was scheduled to be our longest ride of the week (120k), so those people who were a little too enthusiastic in the morning were likely to pay during this ride.

For my ride, I cycled ahead of our group taking on hills and descents before doubling back to do the hills and descents in reverse and catch up with the group!  Fantastic!  At some point near to the end of the ride, with about 15k to go, Lynn turned up in the van and picked up the three members of our group, who were all very grateful to see our ‘Tilly Van’, and took them to our new home.  I cycled on alone until I was joined by Alvin, who had cycled back from our accommodation and we pedalled on into the wind together.  Total riding for day 1 was 130k.

Once bags were loaded off the van and into our rooms, a short, steady run of about 4k with 5 or 6 others completed the day’s exertions.  Day 1 down – swim, bike and run completed – and feeling good!

Day 2 – Gortin
Incredible Wind, 6 Punctures and a sneaky dip in the lake
Unbelievably, we woke to 70mph winds.  Ah, this might spoil our plans, some of us might have thought.  Not a bit of it.  Off we went fuelled by some porridge Alvin-style and a little too much confidence.    

All smiles before the wind hit

We were split into groups today and I was in group one.  The maps were routed using mapmyride and not local knowledge of the area.  This was obvious when our first climb of the day was up a three kilometre long tractor track (grass in the middle, pebbles either side!), giving our skinny road bike tyres very little traction.

When we reached the top, the ferocity of the wind showed itself and nearly blew Dani off his bike into the barbed wire fence!  If we thought the road on the way up was bad, that was only because we hadn’t seen the steep descent along slate-filled tracks on the way down!

The ride had plenty of steep hills to keep us warm but the real challenge of the ride started after about 30k when we climbed a nice hill and reached some very exposed hilly roads.  The wind was so strong that we had to pedal hard to go downhill and use all of our strength and bike handling skills to stay upright on the bike!

Trying to keep warm, obviously!

After stopping to fix our second puncture of the day (mine!), we made the decision to carry on and take on the wind.  It had to get easier didn’t it?  Well it didn’t!  Less than a kilometre later we were climbing again on some pretty exposed roads into a direct headwind, a headwind so strong it actually blew me off my bike and flat onto the road!  It forced all but one of us – Daniel – to get off our bikes and walk (slowly) up the hill.  I knew it was particularly strong and challenging when I saw Alvin climb off his bike and walk it up the hill.  That absolutely never happens!!

If we thought getting to the top would mark the end of the difficult cycling, we were wrong.  The winds would not allow us to throw our legs over our bikes and start cycling!  There was no shelter to be had.  We waited for the wind to drop slightly before quickly getting on our bikes and gingerly descended the hill.  

Punctures 3, 4 and 5 hit during this descent, leading us to the most surreal moment during the whole trip: to avoid the strong, cold wind, we fixed puncture number 5 in a sheep pen, with us all sitting in there taking shelter!

With only one more stop for a puncture (resulting in a ‘Dani tantrum’ for getting his 3^rd puncture of the day) we made our way home, careful to avoid fallen trees, branches and debris along the way.  We were out for hours, but only managed to cover 65k all day.  A tough day in the saddle!

When we returned we found out that the other groups had been out on their bikes, but had called it a day after an hour or so.  A wise move!

The disapproving Points School Committee

A few of us decided to go for a run into the hills.  During the run we passed a lake.  When I say passed, I actually mean got quickly undressed, jumped in and swam a little.  Then we passed the lake and returned home.  The things we do for a sneaky point and a little advantage in the points competition!  At points school later that evening, this sneakiness was not appreciated!


 Day 3 – Gortin to Derry
Strong riding, Garmin troubles and a beached van
Once again, we split into three groups as we left our accommodation, leaving at half hour intervals.  I stayed in group one but gave my Garmin to group 3 to ‘help’ them navigate their way to Derry.  

We had some fantastic group riding today, taking it in regular turns to hit the front and lead the group.  Once the shout of ‘MAAAAANNNN UUUUUPPPP’ was belted out, positions in the group changed and a new leader set the pace for the group.  Whilst we were enjoying our riding, we had a call from Emily who was driving the van and meeting us at the swim spot later in the day.  The van was stuck on the beach, in some very soft sand, and the tide was coming in!  ‘Don’t worry, we’re 20k away and will be with you shortly’ we replied.  This called for us to change the route and make our way to the stranded van as fast as possible.

Enter the Garmin.

Doh!

We took a few short cuts and an hour later when we spoke to Emily again, we were now 30k away!  Oops.  Once again, we had some fantastic group cycling, hitting some top speeds, reaching 50kph on the flat!  We eventually reached the van, spotted the predicament and with some all out pushing from eight triathletes, we managed to get the fully loaded van off the beach.  Hurrah!

Two of the three groups met up on the beach, but group three was still out there … somewhere!  We called off the swim and cycled the 20k or so to Derry to regroup and find our new home for the night.

Once we had secured our bikes in the new accommodation, and found our beds, we headed out for a steady 5k run through the streets of Derry to complete the activities for the day.

Day 4 – Derry to Downhill
Group riding, riding the waves and beach running

A little recap on the rules of the road!

We headed out for breakfast today, eating whilst Alan gave us a talk on cycling safety and group riding etiquette.  This was a great talk, giving some good pointers and boosting the confidence for newer members as well as correcting some bad habits of more experienced cyclists!

We had decided to ride as a complete group today – except for two riders who did a longer loop.  It was a slow and steady ride, veering off the main roads to take in some good hills and quiet lanes along the way.  We stopped for lunch and probably spent more time in the pub having lunch (… then dessert … then coffee) than actually cycling!

Catching the short ferry across a small stretch of water we emerged on the other side to some very strong headwinds.  15k into a persistent headwind later and we arrived at our stunning accommodation, right on the beach.  Apart from the weather, what more could we ask for?

We took advantage of the setting, donned our wetsuits and charged into waves of the kind surfers can only dream.  A bit of splashing about, jumping over waves and a little swimming and then I was out.  No messing about in those temperatures!

Hard beach running session!

Quick change into running gear and back out onto the beach for a brisk 13k run, maintaining a fast pace for most of the way (trying to keep up with Daniel), despite the wind and soft beach.  Tough, but very enjoyable session.
Despite the lack of big bike miles, it was a very long and tiring day!



Day 5 – Downhill to Cushendall
Easy riding, Giants Causeway and Hill Racing

Giants Causeway

Today I was riding with group three, to try and provide some support in the wind and to use my trusty Garmin.  We let the other groups organise themselves into some sort of shape and then let them leave before us – we were confident we knew the way!  As the ride went on, the wind whipped up and became very strong!  We battled through the wind and found our way to the coast and hit some beautifully scenic roads, including some nice hills.

The triumphant arrival of group 3!

Despite being group three and leaving last, we reached Giants Causeway as the second quickest group.  Group 2 made some excuse about punctures and mechanical issues.  A likely story!

A hearty Irish Stew at The Nook and then a stroll down the hill to view the very impressive Giants Causeway coincided with the sun’s first appearance of the week.  Result!

We continued on our way to our next stop, Cushendon, where we were going swimming.  Before we reached there we had the small matter of some hills, wind and another 40k.  The roads were excellent and the scenery fantastic, as we made our way through forest, hills and wide open countryside.  We finally reached the swim stop after an excellent sweeping descent, complete with switchbacks and hairpin turns.

The Mersey Tri boy band??

Most of the group thought a swim would be a good idea and jumped in.  ‘Coldest water ever’ was all I needed to hear to make my ‘no swim’ decision, preferring to watch from the sidelines instead!

After a warming hot chocolate, I joined group one for the final 20k of the day.  A fast and furious 10k ride to the foot of a hill, followed by a ‘race’ up a 10k hill!  Fantastic fun!

That night, it was suggested that we do a triathlon the next day rather than our scheduled ride and an idea turned into a well formed plan, with the room buzzing with excitement.  A handicap system would be devised, giving everybody a more or less equal chance of success.  Talk of a race the next day coincided with a slowing down of wine consumption.  Competitive?  Us?

Day 6 – Cushendall
Triathlon, Last supper and a singing sensation

No nudity in transition please!

Today was the day of the ‘sprint’ triathlon.  It was a handicapped race so as to give everybody a good shot at winning the event.  Depending upon ability, each person would do between one to five laps (150m) of the swim, a 10k uphill bike and one to two laps of a hilly 3.6k trail run.  Lynn kindly opted out of the event, marshalled the transition area, took some of the photos and drove our wetsuits back to the our accommodation!

We cycled our way down the 10k descent to Cushendon, for the race start (this was the hill we would have to climb during the race).  We racked our bikes and changed into our wetsuits, with one eager athlete being docked a point for nudity in transition!  Not all of us had tri-kit with us, so we competed in a variety of outfits ranging from cycling bib shorts to old school speedos!  What a sight that was!!

Mass swim start

The race was a sea swim, starting with a run from the beach into the water.  We were to run out into the sea until it was deep enough to swim in and then bear right for 150m or so, swim/run back to the beach and then run along the beach back to the swim start.  We all assumed that we would take two, three, four strides into the water, dive in and start swimming.  Oh no.  Those of us who did this were trying to swim in a tea cup of water.  OK, stand back up and do more dolphin dives to get to some deep water.  Four dolphins later, the water was still the same depth.  We all thought this was hilarious!  As it turned out, the water was deep enough to swim in – just – and we sprinted on eager to get on with the race.  We didn’t have buoys in the water, just landmarks on the beach that we had to reach before turning and swimming towards the beach.  I overshot the landmark on two of my four laps despite Alan standing on the beach wearing a neon jacket and frantically waving his arms.  You can never have two much open water sighting practice!

Back in for lap 2

Four laps later I was into transition, with numb hands making this a little more tardy than it should have been!  Wetsuit stripped and stuffed into the transition bag, flung into the van, I was off on the 10k hill climb.  The handicaps worked brilliantly.  There were people staggered (staggering?) all the way up the hill.  I think I managed to pass six people on the way up, always looking over my shoulder for some of the big hitters who were behind me on the road (who never did pass me on the bike!).  The average ascent of the 10k hill was 5%, which made for some sore legs coming into T2.

A delighted winner - Jon Moorhouse!

In and out of T2 and onto the hilly trail run.  I’d never run in bib shorts before!  This could be interesting.  Phew that first hill was tough!  The ground wasn’t the best but the views from the top of the hill overlooking some beautiful countryside almost made up for it.  The first half was uphill, the second half downhill.  It was tough on the legs.  The uphills on the second lap were leg sapping.  It was a competitive race despite sounds of laughter echoing across the Irish countryside!  Jon won the overall race, with Natalie edging out two other ladies in a sprint finish to take the female title.

The rest of the day was left open.  Lynn and I made our way out for a 40 minute cycle and 25 minute run.  Others went for a snooze, read some books, drank Guinness or updated their blogs.

Wowzer - what a voice!!

As it was our last night, a slap-up evening meal in a restaurant had been organised, sandwiched between trips to the pub.  Whilst in the pub, we discovered a singing sensation.  Our very own James is a top singer – a tenor – and captivated the whole pub with two incredible songs.  Jaws dropped when he sang and riotous round of applause erupted when he had finished.  Incredible!


Day 7 – Cushendall to Belfast
Hangover run, beautiful coastline and arise King Tutte
On to the last day.  The points competition was close.  After a week of training, only a few points separated most of us.  Despite having a mild hangover, I tried to sneak out of the house and go for a quick run to gain a valuable point, thinking that others would still be in bed and wouldn’t care for a last run.  How wrong I was.  Everybody else seemed to have the same idea.  Doh!

The Mersey Tri Express!

The cycling today was flat and had the assistance of a tailwind (first one of the week!).  We took a beautiful coastal road all the way to Belfast.  I spent the first 50k with group 3 zipping along at 30+kph for large parts of the ride.  After lunch, we cycled as a large group along the narrow lanes, until it was pointed out that our group was upsetting the queues of traffic that had formed behind.  We split into groups, thereby allowing cars to pass more easily.  I joined the front of the main peloton and did some long overdue turns at the front!

Enthusiasm shining through!

We stopped at a beach front and once again some people put on their rubber suits and braved the chilly waters.  The rest of us sat in the lesser-spotted sunshine and admired their enthusiasm!

Once we had eaten more cake and coffee / hot chocolate, we jumped on our bikes in Ireland for the last time.  There was some hard riding during that section of the ride, hitting some good speeds despite the return of the headwind.

A worthy champion!

We all arrived at the port, got off the bikes for the last time in Ireland and loaded the bikes into the van to get ready for our ferry crossing.  After enjoying the Champions League Final on the boat, we made our way to dinner and to the final points school of the trip.  Alvin recapped the week, including points scored and deducted each day and then revealed the top 3 scorers.  It was very close.  Third was Dani, second was Lynn but the winner (by a single point) was Andy ‘King’ Tutte!  A very popular and worthy winner!

To conclude then.

Hands up who's coming next year?!

It was a fantastic week of training, clocking up more than 610k on the bike, 45k of running, four open water swims and a sprint triathlon.

The organisation, administration and management of the trip was first class.  The cycling was brilliant.  The routes were challenging and had some stunning backdrops.  The points system and points school were good fun and very motivational.  The only thing that let us down was the weather – but it didn’t spoil anything and gave us some extra challenges and ‘opportunities for character building’.  It was great to spend time with so many like-minded, enthusiastic people and have so much fun.

Now, when can I put my deposit down for next year?