Spires & Steeples Marathon

Spires & Steeples Marathon was a last minute entry for me. It was a race I wanted to do but I wanted to see how I felt after Equinox before I signed up. After signing up I was quite looking forward to this event as it finished in my home town and it was a route I have wanted to run for a while. This was an event that I didn't want to race but to just enjoy and take in the Lincolnshire scenery.


As this was starting at Lincoln you could get a seat on the bus which would transfer you from Sleaford to Lincoln, which was perfect for me as I didn't have to worry about the car.

This was a marathon that had no chip timing, so you had to time it yourself if you wanted to know how well you got on. For an end of season I was not bothered with what time I got but I just wanted to enjoy the run, the distance and of course the amount of food that I would be able to eat afterwards.

The race gets going and it wasn't long till we were heading down what is known as Steep Hill in Lincoln and the cobbles were slippery so had to be carful. It wasn't long till I was out of the city and running along the river Witham heading towards Washingbrough.

We had 5 checkpoints to pass through and we had 5 wristbands that we had  to hand in at each checkpoint. At the checkpoints there was water to stay hydrated and it was also a place for family, friends or locals to gather a support and cheer us on.

The route was quite challenging and luckily we hadn't had much rain or running through the fields would have been tough. I think I chose the wrong trainers to run in. I don't like my trail running trainers that I have as I end up getting blisters all the time, so I decided to use my running trainers which probably had done over 600 miles and it didn't take long for my knee to start hurting. I thought it was just the terrain that was causing me pain, but after a few runs after the event and trying different trainers it was actually my trainers causing me problems. Now I have got myself a decent
pair of trail trainers and knee problem has gone away.

Last few miles became quite tough and I was happy to complete the race in 4 hours 11 mins. Not my fastest marathon but considering it was a trail marathon and that I had to walk some of it due to my knee I was quite happy with my time.



This was the first time I was able to use my Camelbak Ultra 10 hydration pack. I wanted to run this marathon with me carrying all my gear as next year I hope to a few more trail running events. The pack is very comfortable to wear and it has loads of storage for pretty much everything that you could possibly need for a day on the trails.
http://www.camelbak.com/en/International/Sports-Recreation/Packs/Ultra-10.aspx

 

It was also a good starting point for my training for London Marathon next year. Now I have no more events planned for 2015 and its time for me to have a rest and enjoy my training. Come January my training will intensify again trying to get myself in the best possible shape ready for London Marathon.

Equinox 24

So its Sunday evening and I find myself thinking what I need ready for my next adventure 'Equinox 24'. This is a 24 hour endurance race at Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire. You run round a 10km loop as many times as you can either in a team or as a soloist. I will be taking this on, on September 19th and 20th

I had started off in a team but as time got nearer to the event I thought that I would hate waiting around for my next time to get up and run. So I decided to go have a crack at this as a solo runner.

NOW the panic sets in. Will I be able to keep going through the night? How will I cope with the blisters? Will my legs hold out? What do I eat? What kit do I need? So many questions and not much time to go before I take on this challenge

First thing first was talking to my very understanding wife and letting her know that I have decided to do Equinox as a solo runner. This didn't go down too well as its only 3 days before we go on our holiday to Lanzarote. I have already taken on one mammoth challenge this which was the Outlaw Triathlon. This took me 11:35hrs to complete and I was very tired after that. The thought of going for another 12 1/2 hours was hard to get my head round especially running.

I have done a 24 hour endurance walk before across the Pennine Way and that nearly killed me. I have never been so tired and this was just walking. So the thought of attempting to run for 24 hours is crazy.

I have been asked "have you ever done an ultra marathon before" My answer was no.
Also been asked "what's the furthest you have run before" My answer 26.2 miles

I have an idea of how many miles I would like to cover but that is between me and my trainers. Not even my wife knows.

So what do I actually need:
Running gear plus spare running gear to change in to, compression socks, compression tights, hat, torch spare batteries, trainers (several pairs in case they get wet), Vaseline for feet to help stop blisters and for other chaffing needs. Socks, socks and more socks. jacket, hiking poles (to help my tired legs at night), sun lotion (probably won't need this now I have mentioned it). Also will require a tent to store everything in.

What to drink is not really a problem, but what to eat? so far I have been thinking about cold pasta dishes for main meals, snickers bars, energy gels and bars, sausage rolls and pork pies, crisps, Jaffa Cakes (I will not be sharing these) and what ever else thrown at me from all the people that I will be with. Hopefully more cake, burgers, bacon rolls. I kind of like this idea of Ultra's as it seems to be a good excuse to just east.

How will I get round the course? I have an Ipod which will be loaded with music and some light hearted podcasts, anything to keep me entertained. My plan is to not stop for a great deal of time. I want to try and keep moving and eat on the go apart from when I have planned meals and coffee breaks.

Next week I will start planning on getting all my kit in one place in the house and make sure that I am ready for this.

Vitruvian Triathlon Half Iron distance Triathlon

 

So the Vitruvian was a not a race I had not planned to do this year as all I wanted to focus was the Outlaw Triathlon. The Vit was full and in early May I decided to e-mail them to see if they had any spare spaces that I could take. Not even an hour after I sent my email I had a reply saying that they have opened up the website again and if I wanted a place to be quick. Straight I was signed up and I was happy that I had an event to look forward to.

 

Throughout August I never really trained much this was due to me completing the Outlaw triathlon and that I had taken everything out of me. I had done a couple of open water swims and about a handful of runs. I hadn't even looked at my bike at all. My TT bike was still needing cleaning and it was the Thursday night before the Vit that I finally got time to clean my bike.

 

I went down on the Friday to collect my race pack and take in the atmosphere. I knew we could rack the bikes the night before but I decided that I would rack it on the day. There was loads of people racking up their bikes and I did have a little doubt that maybe I should of brought my bike down.

 

Race kit all ready and I managed to get 5 hours sleep before I had to leave my house at 0330hrs to get  to Rutland waters.

 

Bike racked and I'm all ready to go. I had decided that I wasn't going to race this event but I was going to go out and enjoy my last triathlon of the season.

 

 



Picture above is whilst everyone is at the race brief, I was just taking my time and enjoying the quiet time before it all kicks off in the swim.

 

 

I was looking forward to the swim even though last time I swam in this lake at the Dambuster Triathlon I had a nightmare with people swimming in to me or pulling me back. This time I positioned myself further to the side and I knew that this would be better for me as I would be able to swim past the slower swimmers quicker and hopefully I won't get caught up in what seems like a mass brawl in the middle. The swim was two laps which involved getting out of the water and running back in. I had never done this before so was looking forward to getting out and running back in and try and look professional when I dive back in.

Swim went with out any issues and I was happy with time of 35:30 mins

In to T1 and I could tell I felt really relaxed as I even stopped to have a energy gel. T1 time 2:16 mins

The bike course is really enjoyable as you get a good mixture of hills and fast straights. You do two laps of the course and when you finish the first lap you head back down towards the lake to go through the feed station. I never picked up an extra water bottle and I wished I had as towards the end of the bike I could feel a bit of cramp coming on.

I managed to push it a bit harder on the series of hills on the second lap and I was looking forward to see what I could do on the run as on my last half Iron distance race my legs was in bits from pushing it too hard and my running suffered.

Bike time was 2:49:46 hours

 

T2 went well as my bike was on the end of the rack so had no issues finding my spot and I was soon out on the run T2 time 1:49 mins

 

On to the final discipline the run. The run course is flat and fast and the weather was perfect, no wind and the sun was out.

On the first lap of the run  running towards the church I could feel a light breeze which was great in keeping me cool. the problem was when we had to turn round at the church and we were running with the wind. This became hard work as there was nothing to cool me down apart from the water at the feed stations. I felt nice and comfortable on the first lap and was still feeling quite relaxed and never really focussed on my overall time or what pace I was running at. I was secretly racing some one the course as they started the run about the same time as me and we were running the same pace. The second lap I wanted to try and push away from the person I had stayed with on the first lap but I think he had the same idea and he was soon pulling away from me. I didn't react as I didn't want to over cook it and ruin my race. Coming back towards the finish with approx. 200 metres to a go and there was loads of people cheering everyone in and was a great atmosphere.

Pleased with run time of 1:45:02

 

Overall time was 5:14:03 hours.

 

 

On to my last event for the season for now which is another crazy idea Equinox 24. A 24 hour endurance race.

Sleaford 10km

So we all love taking part in our local events no matter how big or small they are. It's the idea of winning your home race, which for me will never happen but I still like to go out and give it my all. There is bragging rights up for grabs and the possibility of getting a PB on your local course.

This year was a little different for me as I had competed and completed my first Outlaw Triathlon of 140.6 miles. So I knew my legs were still recovering and I was looking forward to this event for different reasons. It would be my first race after my main event of the year so it would be a good gauge of my fitness and it was also the first time I would be running for the running club I have just joined. Sleaford Striders is the running club I joined and they are also the organisers of the Sleaford 10km race. So this was a good opportunity to meet more of the Sleaford Striders team and enjoy the race.

The course is easy to navigate and is fairly flat, but there is a couple of small climbs that can take it out of you and can mess around with your pacing. The course is all on roads which are quiet. Unfortunately there had been a car accident on a near by road so the traffic was diverted on to the course. Which was no issue as the roads were well signposted saying there was a running event on.

 

So with every race I take part in I always seem to start off too fast and this race was no different, but I didn't take long to get in to my stride. I tried to keep up with someone I knew and I was doing alight he wasn't getting away but by Km3 I was feeling it. I had not done any speed work for a while as I was training for the Outlaw Triathlon. I had to slow down and get in to my own pace that I was comfortable with. This race for me wasn't about getting and PB or a really good time but it was about just getting out and running and enjoying it.

 

What the hell happened at the 4km mark?

No idea what was going on with my ankle it did not feel good at all. I didn't roll on it or do anything with it but just had a really bad pain. Thought I would see how it went for another km. If it got worse I said to myself I would pull out and rest up.

 

I get to the 5km mark and I just kept on running. I am really stubborn when running, which is probably not a good thing. If I feel pain I tend to just keep going and worry about it at the end, which is exactly what I did again.



 

 

At the end of the race I could feel my ankle hurting quite a bit and was limping a little bit. I was really pleased with my time of 41:00mins. Not a PB, but considering that my body was still recovering from Outlaw I was pleased with my result finishing 24 out of 184 runners.

As soon as I got my medal I went to the massage table to get my ankle quickly looked at. Ended up getting my ankle taped up and was told to rest up and see how it goes. The next day no pain in my ankle and walking fine and managed to go running again two days later.

Love the race as it's my local race and the fact that I know many of the marshal's so also nice hearing your name being cheered as you run past them. I look forward to representing the Sleaford Striders in other running events.

 

 



Tallington Lakes Olympic Triathlon

So races have been coming thick and fast recently, all in preparation for my main event of the year the Outlaw Triathlon. One event I wanted to do was the Tallington lakes triathlon as it was again just down the road for where I live and it was a new event that I wanted to try out.

I was on twitter one evening and I saw a picture of Tallington lakes so I retweeted the picture and like it. Not realising at the time I had just entered a competition for a place at the race. I week had passed and I receive a tweet saying congratulations you have won a place in the Olympic distance race. Was really chuffed with this as I never usually enter competitions on line.

This race was to be used to have a good race but not to break any records as I wanted to stay fresh and fit for the OUtlaw Triathlon. So I was using this race for some conditioning and to make sure that my transitions are quick with minimal disruption.

Arrive nice and early and bike was racked and kit all set up, Swim was a deep water swim and the swim course was straight forward. the horn goes and the race is off. I took it easy at the start as I didn't want to have too many people round me and barging in to me. I soon got up to pace and I soon realised I was quite near the front of the overall pack. From what I could see there was 7 or 8 people in front of me. I thought to myself that I was going too fast and I needed to slow but I thought I would continue at this pace and carry on. On the back straight on the swim I managed to sneak past two people and on the final two turns I could see a small group of swimmers in front of me but I knew I wasn't going to catch them. I managed to finish the swim in 5th position and I knew this would be short lived when I got out on the bike. Swim Time 25:40

T1 went as expected and I was looking forward to the bike course which had a last minute change to the course, but since I didn't know the course I wasn't too bothered about any changes as it was the same for everyone else. The bike course was well marshalled and it was good to see people of there houses on the side of the road cheering us on as we passed. You don't really get many people on the side of the road cheering us on local events so it was nice to see and added to the whole experience.

The bike course good and the roads were in good condition. as usual it wasn't long till the faster bikers were passing me and all the hard work on the swim was going to waste. My bike strength and power is something I need to work on over the colder months. Bike time 1:24:48.

I was in to T2 and just over 30 seconds later I'm out on the run. I have managed to master T2 with speed. the time and effort has paid off in doing brick sessions with transition set up in the garden at home. On to the run and the is very little wind and the course is pancake flat. I knew early on that I would be on for a good 10km time as I took it slightly easier on the bike. The course takes you 2.5km out round one of the lakes and back to a turn point and then repeat. I was really pleased with my time and of 40:20 seconds. Under a year ago this would have been a personal best time for on just a 10km road race. So over the months I have been really please how my running and swimming has improved and my cycling has got stronger but it is still my weakest discipline.

Overall time was 2:32:33
finishing 12th overall and 2nd in my age group. The first time I get a podium for my age group they are not giving out prizes.