Knee & the Imperial Winter Series

So, this blog hasn't been very active at all lately.

Since the Royal Parks my knee has been buggered and I've been largely out of action. The physio reckons it is an over use injury - basically 2 half marathons with little training is a bad thing.

This year has been very disappointing for me - I'd had high hopes but many things - both under my control and beyond - have conspired to make it highly unsuccessful. Bother.

So the knee is getting better, but it still aches and I'm not even going to try to run on it yet. So I've taken to some winter cycling and have decided to enter the Imperial Winter Series at Hillingdon. The first race was this past weekend. I arrived about 35mins before the start only to find a ridiculously long queue! I got to the start with a minute or so to spare, and I estimate that there must have been at least 80 riders in the 4th cat race! Most were novices which was to prove a bit of a problem.

At the start I was in good shape and enjoyed my time at the front. After 25mins or so (it was a 35mins + 5 lap race) I started to lose concentration and ended up somewhere in the middle of the group. This is where it all went pear shaped. I got caught up in a fall and went straight over someone's bike. Fortunately I was able to vault off my bike and do a running landing on grass. My bike also took the landing well, and apart from skew bars and a loose headset, I was still in action.

The slightly wonky bike and shock of the crash got to me a bit and started to make me feel really nervous in the group. My plan was to get some air, and then get stuck in again. Then another crash which I narrowly missed going down in, followed by another which forced me to a complete stop. By this stage it was a lap and a half to go, so I had no chance whatsoever. So it was a slow walk to the finish.

I'm going to give it a whirl again this Saturday - the forecast looks gloomy, so I hope it will keep away a large part of the novice field. I'd really like to get a placing so I can start to gather some points together! That said, my form isn't great, and my knee is still sensitive, so I'll have to just make sure I get myself in the right place at the right time.

Looking forward.

Running in the Parks

I've been doing a bit more running lately, but sadly not as much as I'd hoped to - a hurt knee, work travel and fatigue conspiring against me.

A few weeks back we ran the Royal Parks Half Marathon, Tasha taking up a spot in the npower team from a colleague who couldn't make it. The event itself was wonderful; really well run and the route was beautiful and fun. The weather was perfect, if a bit hot (not that I'm complaining) which added to the atmosphere.

Sadly I got caught in terrible "traffic" at the start, and battled to get into a nice quick rhythm. I felt really strong up to about 10 miles, but then started to really struggle - my hips and knees feeling pounded. I finished feeling absolutely awful, and it showed in the time - a 1:42 or thereabouts. I was gutted.

A week later I discovered that we were the fastest corporate team - by 6s! Incredible. I am so glad I fought the urge to walk the last km or so! It would have been even worse to have lost by a tiny margin and know that if I'd just dug a bit deeper...

Ifs and buts aside, it was a great outcome to what was overall a lovely run. Still a disappointing experience for me in that I know that I should have done much better. Lessons learnt - it has been a bad year in terms of keeping in competitive shape; I can only make sure I do better next year.

My training runs, when I've found the time, have been good apart from yesterday morning when my knee felt like it wanted to explode. Now it is just throbbing and I sense I need to be gentle with it for the next month or so. Which is extremely frustrating with Cross Country starting next weekend! I'll see how it shapes during the week - and hopefully I'll have some good news to post in a week from now.

Bye for now!

Jogging around Wiltshire

This Sunday past was the Chippenham Half Marathon. Tasha had entered so I thought I'd also do it for moral support, and in the process put my name down for the Corporate team.

Having spent the summer mostly mooching (and occasionally riding around the countryside), I wasn't and am not in such great running shape - but I still felt good about trying for a 1:30.

The short if it is that I suffered over the last 3mi/5km and in so doing, missed my target by 6 mins. Otherwise it was great fun indeed, and I am now thoroughly motivated for the winter cross country season.

I'm still a bit sore today, but I've been using the bike to loosen my legs up again after Sunday, and might do a little speed work in prep for the MCAA 6-Stage Road Relays on Saturday up in Birmingham. That should be a fun event too - but I'm looking at all these events as training for the upcoming XC season. Good to be back!

Neath, a place on the list of trains stops

I had been all fired up for the Castle Combe Summer Series race, but being at Aberthaw (in South Wales) for the week and the 2 hour drive to Chippenham for the race meant I had to find a local event to ride instead. I found a the President's Trophy Handicap Road Race, a 67km event, run by Port Talbot Wheelers in Neath just up the road that looked to be perfect.

Until now, all I knew about Neath was that it was one of the stops on the Swansea train from Paddington – a train that typically I’d hop on at Reading and off at Swindon on my way to work. It would be quite exciting to put a face to this name that is monotonously read out after every stop!

I packed all my gear into the car in the morning, and inevitably spent much of the day fretting about the one item (my bike computer) that I realised I’d left in the hotel. I really do need a checklist! Fortunately the hotel was on the way to Neath, so no serious problems.

Another unexpected bonus came with the afternoon’s tests going pear shaped, giving me a good reason to leave the station early to get ready or the race. I got back to the hotel, packed and made sure I had everything I needed, and then had a short half hour nap.

I woke feeling incredibly calm, so I hopped into the car and put on some Mark Knopfler to help get me into the racing frame of mind. I was really amazed with how calm I was feeling. Even the days before, I was feeling absolutely no anxiety which is unusual. Not bad, should be a doddle then.

The signing-up table was in a sports hall – when I arrived I was one of the first competitors there, and we had to wait a little while for the organisers to get ready for us. The usual suspects were there; the young stallions, cocky as hell and too cool for their carbon wheels. I had to smile, the poses and banter were all too familiar – it could so easily have been Ryan and I apart from the modern trend of poking the shades into the helmet holes.

Entry fee handed over and number in hand I was suddenly overwhelmed by a massive wave of anxiety. Huge. I stumbled over the car and started unpacking the bike. I was a mess; it was like the minor anxiousness that I should have felt in the week before was hitting me all at once. All unpacked, pinned, dressed and bike test ridden, I took a few minutes to gaze into space and feel more nervous before hopping on my bike to warm up.

From there on time flew. Before I knew it we were listening to the completely unintelligible starter’s orders and we were off after the lead car. The clouds were looking evil, but most of my competitors were in shorts and short sleeves. I’d opted for warm tights and arm warmers; was this the right choice? I didn’t have too much time to ponder this, the pace was crazy and my heart rate went through the roof. We were heading up a gentle uphill at well over 40km/h and this was the first few km! I was now starting to wonder if I had possibly bitten off much more than I could chew. No problem, I’d stick to my plan which was effectively to do as little work as possible until the finish.

The first lap went by quickly, and to be honest I have no idea how many laps of the course we did. I did get validation of my clothing choice when we got lambasted from the heavens. There really is something special about being in a peloton with the spray of the bike in front in your face! And even with this, the pace hardly let up. To make matters worse, every time I checked the Heart Rate Monitor, it was 170+ which made me a) think I was soon to be in trouble and b) decide not to look at the HRM anymore.

A few times there were breakaways that looked like they may be dangerous; I chased two down and tried to make sure the bunch didn’t split. I knew I didn’t have the legs to work with a breakaway group, but that I’d stand a chance in a bunch sprint. The new bike was just perfect for these fast accelerations, responsive, stiff and almost weightless. It was a joy!

There were a few exciting moments in the corners. In the first a rider in front braked unexpectedly which had me locking up the rear and sliding sideways into the corner. The second was a slick drain cover that caused me a huge slide that I somehow managed to survive; I put it to the hours spent tearing around on my BMX.

Before I knew it, now joined by the E/1/2/3s, we were headed at ridiculous speed to the finish. I knew there was a short climb not long before the finish line, so I decided to have a go there and give it stick up the hill I came flying over the crest, but it was too early as there were still a few hundred metres to the finish. The bunch surged but my legs were cooked and there was no way I could get into a position for the sprint. I found myself spinning my 53x12 (+60km/h) but making no headway at all.

Apart from the mistimed surge at the end, it was an awesome race. The stats from my computer say it all: average speed – 42.7km/h, maximum speed – 62.6km/h, distance 67.5km, time 1:34.

I felt strong and my legs felt loose and smooth. I could keep my cadence high and even. It all felt efficient and steady. Looking back at the HRM data, my heart rate wasn’t quite as bad as I’d thought; I think I’d probably glanced at it after every hard session rather than when I was relaxed, so not too much to worry about there.

And as a first outing for the race bike it was great, it felt perfect, rode fast and reliably and fit like a glove. I have been cured of bike lust. Well temporarily anyways.

Excellent pictures by Brian Smith

I've added a few images (retrospectively to old posts about events past) from Flickr taken by Brian Smith, at this point without permission - I like them. Tks Brian.

National Road Relay Champs

It was a perfect day. The sun was out, and I was feeling strong. I’d been pretty poorly lately – more so than I can remember being in a long time. I’d fallen off my bike (my ribs still hurt from that incident), a nasty cold kept me out of action before the Midlands, and since then I’d picked up a nasty stomach bug in Belgium that had me down for nearly a week and forced me to take a long period for recovery.

The first time I’d exercised my cardio system since the illnesses was Friday when I gave my commute a bit of stick. I was fast too – averaging 32.9km/h through traffic on the way to the station. I knew I was strong, but I could also feel that my legs weren’t used to the strain and seemed to have less capacity for lactate than before. Saturday would be interesting.

Saturday morning I got on my bike to get the groceries. It was good to have the opportunity to spin the legs a bit to loosen them for the run in the afternoon. At first I was a little worried because my legs did seem to be lacking sparkle; keeping up the cadence seemed to help – almost like a nice massage. I was feeling good.

The drive up to Sutton Park was lovely, sunroof open, good music and knowing where I was going to all helped. I still managed to get a bit lost, but it was no problem at all. I still had plenty time to ready myself for my leg.

The start was “busier” this time, so with runners in front of me I really needed to make a point of not letting the need to get ahead compromise my own race. I paced myself easy up the first hill; it was difficult and demoralising to let the light blue vest of the runner in front slowly creep away, but I was close to the red line and knew any harder would be too hard and I’d blow. Worse was when a fast spindly dude flew past me – I felt like I was just going to be going backwards the whole way. A bit of doubt crept in; did I go off too fast trying to catch the runner in front? Did that virus whack my form more than I’d thought? Would it have been better if I’d not cycled to Waitrose this morning?

“Concentrate!” I told myself, it was a bit like a moment from the film 'Wimbledon'. Quickly I focussed and concentrated on my footsteps and breathing. Soon I’d found I’d found a nice rhythm; I was feeling happier in my skin and confident in how I was setting my pace.

One thing though, I was definitely going harder than I had in the Midlands, everything was burning and I wanted one thing only: for it to stop. For that I needed to reach the finish line, so I pushed on hard.

The 5km went by very quickly – I think having run the course before helped, as did knowing the course and having much better weather. It was such an awesome feeling, knowing that I was going so hard, and that it was just about all I could do.

Reaching the final straight up the hill was great. The rest of the team was cheering me on, and it felt sensational pushing myself to my absolute limit. The line couldn’t come quickly enough, I felt near collapse and had to hold the railings to keep upright! (this pic is approaching the line)

I timed myself at 18’24”, but the timekeepers officially had me at 18’23”. At the Midland round I’d done 18’22”, so pretty metronomic then! Altogether, given my heavy and repeated illnesses, I’m pretty happy with the result.

As a team we managed 47th of 52 teams, and finished under 5 hours at an average of 3'47"/km - which is pretty decent I think - especially for a small club.

I’m much prouder of my 18’23” than the previous 18'22" – I was in bad form and it really was totally on the limit – there wasn’t anything left in the tank at all. What a run! Most of all it was an honour to be able to compete in the National Champs, and a very special experience.

Midland Road Relay Champs - Sutton Park

I woke up knackered on Saturday morning. Having been a bit anxious about the race, I had a very restless sleep. The week before I had a nasty fall off my bike on the way to work and bruised a few ribs on my left side which had made hard breathing quite painful. To make matters worse, I had also just got over an annoying head-cold so I really was having some serious performance anxiety.

Anyhow, while munching my muesli and screwing the spikes back into my XC shoes (for therapeutic purposes, I didn’t need them) I decided that what had gone had gone and all that mattered was doing my best out on the course. With that I hopped into my newly-acquired car, opened the sunroof and headed off to get some gas.

I pottered for a while and but soon it was time to pack everything up and pick up Bryan from the station. And so started the adventure, we blasted up the B-road through countless little villages (and 30mph zones) and then onto the M40 headed up to Birmingham.

The directions to Sutton Park were pretty confusing but, with the help of some joggers, we managed to find the right gate and the race area. We were pretty early for my leg, but it was nice to have time to work out how things worked and calm myself. Bryan was thankfully very patient as I know I can be quite pedantic about making sure I know how things work.

The weather was something quite perplexing. One minute it was windy and raining, fifteen minutes later calm and sunny, and then a few moments later sleet. When waiting for my leg there was a bit of hail, but it quickly cleared and I had some lovely sun for most of it.

Apart from lapping another runner early on, I ran the whole leg alone which made it tricky to pace myself. At about halfway some spectators shouted to a runner behind me. I was going fairly hard, but not sure if I was being caught, it gave me impetus to turn the wick up a bit more.

By now the ribs were aching a bit, but I was feeling really strong. I had that spring in my stride and my lungs were gulping and exhaling with mechanical precision. It felt brilliant. As I sensed the finish getting closer I notched the pace up and up until eventually I was on the final climb up to the line.

The hill was awesome. It was a pretty steep climb, not too long. Until this stage I’d just been nudging the red, but now was the time to bury the needle firmly in the red. The hill felt stupendous; although right on the limit, I still felt incredibly strong.

The run had felt great, but I’d started my watch late so I wasn’t sure of how fast it had been. Given the pain of my ribs, I started to doubt my time and was disappointed – convinced I’d run a mid-19. The times for my leg weren’t posted immediately, so I had nothing to disprove my suspicion.

It wasn’t until this morning (Monday) that I found an email from the Club Captain; we’d finished 18^th overall and I had run 18’22” – 23s faster than my target time. Even better, as a team we had qualified for the Road Relay Nationals in two weeks time!

So in the end, a performance to be proud of for the team “with all the boxes ticked”. As far as I know, the Nationals will be at the same venue and hopefully the same course.

The weekend promises to be quite busy and exciting – the following day (the 27^th) will be my first race on the Ribble – the Reading CC Spring Road Race. 80km around the Chilterns should be a great challenge and will hopefully play to my natural climbing ability.

As usual, I can’t wait!