First injury of 2013. Took a hockey ball to the foot during our 1-1 draw at Hull this morning.
Nothing too serious - can't put any weight on it currently but hopefully within 72 hours should be a lot better. Doubt I'll be running this week at all and probably no cycling either. Had a poor week last week too so looks like I'm writing off the first two weeks of February as an exercise free zone. Although I'm hoping to get some swims in as my foot should be alright, as long as I can get to the pool...
Edit: 15th Feb
Went for a swim on Wednesday and a run on Thursday. Foot is back to normal! Even managed a sub 25minute 5k for the first time in 2013. Set a new PB at the same time, 23:20, though hopefully that won't stand for too long!
Edit 2: 17th Feb
Well, after playing hockey twice this weekend (3-2 and 3-0 victories, scoring once in both) I can safely say that.... my foot isn't healed! Very sore this evening but hoping the pain will subside soon and stay away this time!
Edit 3: 18th Feb
After seeing the Doctor at work today I was told to go for an xray at the hospital. As it was half term I expected the worst but I got seen within 3 hours and nothing is broken/fractured just some soft tissue damage and bruising on the bone. Still, advised to avoid physical activity for 2weeks minimum but we'll see. Planning a 100miler this weekend in the Yorkshire Dales so will see how the week pans out.
Sunday 10 February 2013
Saturday 9 February 2013
Giant in the workshop
It was mentioned in previous blog post - about me losing many bikes - that my housemate James had a pretty poor 2012 in cycling terms. Perhaps I'll get him to write a 'guest post' one day about it but for now I'll just cover the basics. He was in an accident with his new Giant OCR 1 and in the process the forks got snapped.
Being the good friend that I am this week I bought him a present. I bought him some new carbon forks so he can get his Giant back on the road.
DIY of any kind is not my strong point. I can barely change an inner tube, let alone do major maintenance on a bike. I followed common sense with this one and I think it turned out okay!
Here are some photos of the process:
Being the good friend that I am this week I bought him a present. I bought him some new carbon forks so he can get his Giant back on the road.
DIY of any kind is not my strong point. I can barely change an inner tube, let alone do major maintenance on a bike. I followed common sense with this one and I think it turned out okay!
Here are some photos of the process:
This is what it looked like originally. Forks snapped off with the Alu steerer remaining
On the bike stand. Saddle had been taken off too at some point.
Close up of the brakes attached to the broken forks
New forks. Carbon fibre with aluminium steerer. Purchased from the bikeradar sales forum.
Not quite the same colour but being black they don't look horrific.
In the accident his front wheel was bent so put on a front wheel from one of the other bikes in the garage. The yellow tyre can be swapped over.
Close up of the front brake, attached now to the new forks
Saddle back on the bike. Sitting funny though.
What the bike looks like now on the stand.
Took it out for a quick spin after this.
Obvious points are that the saddle needs re-adjusting, I think I've put it on wrong so I will get James to look at it at some point. As well as that, it will look a lot better with a black tyre on the front wheel - or even getting the original wheel re-trued as the spoke count is so different on the back wheel currently.
The last thing I noticed whilst riding is that the front brake needs a little adjusting, getting a little bit too much feedback when you have a squeeze but should be an easy enough fix when one of us gets the time.
It is a very nice machine though, the 105 groupset (with some Ultegra) is very smooth through the gears compared to my 2011 Sora groupset. Quite jealous of it even though I think aesthetically my Bianchi is better. James saw it briefly before he went out to a shift at work so hopefully when he gets back in a couple of hours he'll like it and be grateful. Then hopefully it won't be too long until we get to go on some epic rides together!
Thursday 7 February 2013
Coffee
I am a cyclist.
I don't like coffee.
Those two statements do not go well together. Coffee is deeply ingrained in cycling culture - coffee stops and the like, so something has to change. Either I stop cycling, or I learn to like coffee.
I'll be straight with you - I wrote a whole post at the time of drinking the coffee - my first cup ever - but since my phone decided to delete it without publishing(!) I am not going to try and recreate what I wrote.
It did however have this jist:
I was bought a cup of coffee by my fiancée, along with a bag of sugar and a bottle of milk. I first tasted it as black, with one sugar - which is how she takes it and it was, quite frankly, vile.
I then added quite a lot of milk and spent a lot of time inhaling the smell of the coffee before deciding to carry on with my tasting session. After adding another half a spoonful of sugar, and a splash more milk the cup of coffee became bearable and something that I didn't hate.
It's a first step towards what could be a new hot beverage relationship for me - though I was chastised by my barista housemate for starting with instant coffee. I plan to go to his shop next week to try a "real" coffee that he can make me.
So with a bit of sugar and a fair old splash of milk, it turns out coffee might actually be alright! I guess I can keep calling myself a cyclist - just!
I don't like coffee.
Those two statements do not go well together. Coffee is deeply ingrained in cycling culture - coffee stops and the like, so something has to change. Either I stop cycling, or I learn to like coffee.
I'll be straight with you - I wrote a whole post at the time of drinking the coffee - my first cup ever - but since my phone decided to delete it without publishing(!) I am not going to try and recreate what I wrote.
It did however have this jist:
I was bought a cup of coffee by my fiancée, along with a bag of sugar and a bottle of milk. I first tasted it as black, with one sugar - which is how she takes it and it was, quite frankly, vile.
I then added quite a lot of milk and spent a lot of time inhaling the smell of the coffee before deciding to carry on with my tasting session. After adding another half a spoonful of sugar, and a splash more milk the cup of coffee became bearable and something that I didn't hate.
It's a first step towards what could be a new hot beverage relationship for me - though I was chastised by my barista housemate for starting with instant coffee. I plan to go to his shop next week to try a "real" coffee that he can make me.
So with a bit of sugar and a fair old splash of milk, it turns out coffee might actually be alright! I guess I can keep calling myself a cyclist - just!
Wednesday 6 February 2013
Lost, Stolen & Never Found
My parents don't trust me with bikes.
Have you ever had a bike stolen? It kinda sucks. You go back to where you left it, most often to ride it home, and it's gone. Not where you left it. Someone's come along and pinched it. This blog post captures the bikes I've had stolen in the last 6 years (I think I can remember all of them..) Oh, and one that I lost. How do you lose a bike? I hear you ask. All will be revealed below.
I'll try do them in chronological order
1) Easter Holidays 2007:
The first bike that I had stolen was the one I was given from my cousin. This bike had served me well during my teenage paper round years, most often as a back up for when my bike had a puncture and Dad hadn't fixed it yet. When I got to college I used it as a bike for the "3rd leg" of my journey to college. (1 = Cycling to the train station. 2 = Being on the train. 3 = Cycling from the station to college)
The day before the Easter holidays I was round someones house after college and had locked my bike up opposite their house to the fence that surrounded the local leisure centre. I then got offered a lift home to which I obviously said yes. The bike was locked with a D-lock so I assumed it would be fine - even for the two weeks during the holidays.
First day back at college and I went to collect it and it had gone! Sort of. The frame was still there, locked to the fence, but the wheels and saddle had gone. So I did the thing anyone would do with a 16 year old bike - I took the D-lock and left the frame on the floor - oops!
2) Autumn 2007
This bike was a nice bike, if I remember correctly. A sort of hybrid with disc breaks from Halfords. I got it for my birthday and it lasted around 6 months. I used it for my first leg of the college journey and I remember vividly getting to the train station, getting off the train and heading to where I locked it up that morning. Then suddenly - nothing - nothing was there. I remember panicking a little and ringing my Mum. "Hello?" "Mum, my bike's not there" "What do you mean?" "My bike's not there." I wasn't particularly helpful in that situation.
We reported it to the police, but they were as unhelpful as ever an we got a letter through a few weeks later saying that 'Unfortunately the CCTV at the train station was not functional on the day the bike was stolen.' To say we were unhappy was an understatement. My parents claimed for the bike on their house insurance which gave me some cash to buy a new bike. Which leads me onto one of the more embarrassing episodes in my life...
3) Summer 2008
Much like the pretty girl I kissed in a club in Newcastle once, I don't remember this bike. I don't remember what it looked like, I don't remember it's name but I remember being ashamed of my behaviour.
I was late for the train. (Talking about the bike now..) There was no time to lock the bike up so I took the bike over the bridge with me and got it on the train. Just as the door closed I got a phone call asking if I was on the train. I said yes and went to find my friends. We got off the train at college and headed to our respective revision sessions. (It was A level period.) We headed back to the train station via Tescos afterwards and sat on the platform eating donuts. Mmm. Donuts. I remembered I had a doctors appointment that I needed to get to back home. I thought, no problems I have my bike, I'll just cycle up the road and.... wait a second, where's my bike? Did I leave it at college? I defiantly had it on the train. On the train. On. The. Train. Oh, &#%@!
So yes. This is the story how I left my bike on a train. Off it went to London Waterloo never to be seen (by me) again. It was probably a nice bike. We bought it off some family friends about siz months before and I'm pretty sure it was black. Or silver. I think. Needless to say, it was the last bike my parents bought me.
4) Spring 2009
When I moved to Lincoln I used to live in a house about 30minutes walk from work. As I was lazy I bought myself a bike off a friend for £20. Bargain. I used this bike to ride to/from work for at least 6 months (do you see a pattern here?) until one day the wheel buckled. That was annoying. I locked it up about half way to work and walked the rest of the way and picked it up on the way home. (I bet you thought it would have been stolen by then, eh!) Turns out it would be around £30 for a new wheel - £30 repair on a bike costing £20? No thanks. So what I very cunningly did was leave it unlocked outside my house. It was there for about an hour before someone stole it. Some poor sod rode off/more likely wheeled away an old bike with a buckled back wheel which meant I did not need to find a proper way to dispose of it. Score.
5) Spring 2009
Yes, yes, two bikes in the same time period; but they were both strategically stolen-on-purpose.
This bike cost me £15 from a facebook friend. I was warned however that one of the pedals came off so would need fixing. No problem I thought and duly picked it up from him one Saturday morning. I nipped down to B&Q to buy the relevant nut to keep the pedal fixed on and fixed it up and rode it around. After the pedal unscrewing itself every single day I finally got tired of it and - yes, you guessed it - left it outside my house. Now, I must emphasize that I didn't live in a crime hotspot - nothing of the sort actually - but this bike lasted less than 10 minutes outside my house. I left it leant against the wall, went and made dinner, came back to the front lounge and it was gone. Again some poor chap had ridden off on a bike that wouldn't last long until the pedal came off! I realise now that I could have easily swapped the pedals but at the time I didn't have the know-how and to be honest it probably wasn't worth it.
6) Summer 2011
After I got back from the Lincoln2London (www.lincoln2london.blogspot.com) trip, I thought it was time to get myself a bike again. I got given a free(!) Saracen downhill mountain bike that needed new gears and brakes. £40 later and I had myself a really decent bike. It was great for commuting on, handled all weathers well and I was really sad when this one got stolen. I locked it up in town under a bridge and went to work. We went out for lunch and as I walked past the bridge I noticed my bike was gone! The lock was missing too so they left no trace of a bike being there. I phoned the police and reported it missing but never heard anything from it. There was a 4 hour window where someone could have taken it and if it was me I would have got on a train with it and been as far away as possible, as quickly as possible. (Although knowing me I would have left said bike on said train...) For the second time in my life I received a letter from the police letting me know that on the day in question the CCTV was not working and the bike had not been found. What a joke! What's the point in having CCTV up if its not working?! It's not working as a deterrent so sort it out UK Police forces! I was saddest about this bike as I'd had it for a decent period of time and it was a really nice bike just for commuting and going into town on.
7) Honourable mention
This bike didn't actually get stolen but it is worth mentioning as it goes with the bad luck I have with bikes. It was a Reebok mountain bike (you can tell the quality of it from that) which I got for free off a freecycle style website. It needed the gears looking at and I couldn't be bothered to do it so I told my housemate James if he got it fixed and paid for it, he could have the bike. James did indeed get it fixed and rode it around for a few weeks until one day the front wheel decided to lock up and sent him straight over the handlebars! Resulting in a face that looked like this:
Have you ever had a bike stolen? It kinda sucks. You go back to where you left it, most often to ride it home, and it's gone. Not where you left it. Someone's come along and pinched it. This blog post captures the bikes I've had stolen in the last 6 years (I think I can remember all of them..) Oh, and one that I lost. How do you lose a bike? I hear you ask. All will be revealed below.
I'll try do them in chronological order
1) Easter Holidays 2007:
The first bike that I had stolen was the one I was given from my cousin. This bike had served me well during my teenage paper round years, most often as a back up for when my bike had a puncture and Dad hadn't fixed it yet. When I got to college I used it as a bike for the "3rd leg" of my journey to college. (1 = Cycling to the train station. 2 = Being on the train. 3 = Cycling from the station to college)
The day before the Easter holidays I was round someones house after college and had locked my bike up opposite their house to the fence that surrounded the local leisure centre. I then got offered a lift home to which I obviously said yes. The bike was locked with a D-lock so I assumed it would be fine - even for the two weeks during the holidays.
First day back at college and I went to collect it and it had gone! Sort of. The frame was still there, locked to the fence, but the wheels and saddle had gone. So I did the thing anyone would do with a 16 year old bike - I took the D-lock and left the frame on the floor - oops!
2) Autumn 2007
This bike was a nice bike, if I remember correctly. A sort of hybrid with disc breaks from Halfords. I got it for my birthday and it lasted around 6 months. I used it for my first leg of the college journey and I remember vividly getting to the train station, getting off the train and heading to where I locked it up that morning. Then suddenly - nothing - nothing was there. I remember panicking a little and ringing my Mum. "Hello?" "Mum, my bike's not there" "What do you mean?" "My bike's not there." I wasn't particularly helpful in that situation.
We reported it to the police, but they were as unhelpful as ever an we got a letter through a few weeks later saying that 'Unfortunately the CCTV at the train station was not functional on the day the bike was stolen.' To say we were unhappy was an understatement. My parents claimed for the bike on their house insurance which gave me some cash to buy a new bike. Which leads me onto one of the more embarrassing episodes in my life...
3) Summer 2008
Much like the pretty girl I kissed in a club in Newcastle once, I don't remember this bike. I don't remember what it looked like, I don't remember it's name but I remember being ashamed of my behaviour.
I was late for the train. (Talking about the bike now..) There was no time to lock the bike up so I took the bike over the bridge with me and got it on the train. Just as the door closed I got a phone call asking if I was on the train. I said yes and went to find my friends. We got off the train at college and headed to our respective revision sessions. (It was A level period.) We headed back to the train station via Tescos afterwards and sat on the platform eating donuts. Mmm. Donuts. I remembered I had a doctors appointment that I needed to get to back home. I thought, no problems I have my bike, I'll just cycle up the road and.... wait a second, where's my bike? Did I leave it at college? I defiantly had it on the train. On the train. On. The. Train. Oh, &#%@!
So yes. This is the story how I left my bike on a train. Off it went to London Waterloo never to be seen (by me) again. It was probably a nice bike. We bought it off some family friends about siz months before and I'm pretty sure it was black. Or silver. I think. Needless to say, it was the last bike my parents bought me.
4) Spring 2009
When I moved to Lincoln I used to live in a house about 30minutes walk from work. As I was lazy I bought myself a bike off a friend for £20. Bargain. I used this bike to ride to/from work for at least 6 months (do you see a pattern here?) until one day the wheel buckled. That was annoying. I locked it up about half way to work and walked the rest of the way and picked it up on the way home. (I bet you thought it would have been stolen by then, eh!) Turns out it would be around £30 for a new wheel - £30 repair on a bike costing £20? No thanks. So what I very cunningly did was leave it unlocked outside my house. It was there for about an hour before someone stole it. Some poor sod rode off/more likely wheeled away an old bike with a buckled back wheel which meant I did not need to find a proper way to dispose of it. Score.
5) Spring 2009
Yes, yes, two bikes in the same time period; but they were both strategically stolen-on-purpose.
This bike cost me £15 from a facebook friend. I was warned however that one of the pedals came off so would need fixing. No problem I thought and duly picked it up from him one Saturday morning. I nipped down to B&Q to buy the relevant nut to keep the pedal fixed on and fixed it up and rode it around. After the pedal unscrewing itself every single day I finally got tired of it and - yes, you guessed it - left it outside my house. Now, I must emphasize that I didn't live in a crime hotspot - nothing of the sort actually - but this bike lasted less than 10 minutes outside my house. I left it leant against the wall, went and made dinner, came back to the front lounge and it was gone. Again some poor chap had ridden off on a bike that wouldn't last long until the pedal came off! I realise now that I could have easily swapped the pedals but at the time I didn't have the know-how and to be honest it probably wasn't worth it.
6) Summer 2011
After I got back from the Lincoln2London (www.lincoln2london.blogspot.com) trip, I thought it was time to get myself a bike again. I got given a free(!) Saracen downhill mountain bike that needed new gears and brakes. £40 later and I had myself a really decent bike. It was great for commuting on, handled all weathers well and I was really sad when this one got stolen. I locked it up in town under a bridge and went to work. We went out for lunch and as I walked past the bridge I noticed my bike was gone! The lock was missing too so they left no trace of a bike being there. I phoned the police and reported it missing but never heard anything from it. There was a 4 hour window where someone could have taken it and if it was me I would have got on a train with it and been as far away as possible, as quickly as possible. (Although knowing me I would have left said bike on said train...) For the second time in my life I received a letter from the police letting me know that on the day in question the CCTV was not working and the bike had not been found. What a joke! What's the point in having CCTV up if its not working?! It's not working as a deterrent so sort it out UK Police forces! I was saddest about this bike as I'd had it for a decent period of time and it was a really nice bike just for commuting and going into town on.
7) Honourable mention
This bike didn't actually get stolen but it is worth mentioning as it goes with the bad luck I have with bikes. It was a Reebok mountain bike (you can tell the quality of it from that) which I got for free off a freecycle style website. It needed the gears looking at and I couldn't be bothered to do it so I told my housemate James if he got it fixed and paid for it, he could have the bike. James did indeed get it fixed and rode it around for a few weeks until one day the front wheel decided to lock up and sent him straight over the handlebars! Resulting in a face that looked like this:
Poor James! Unfortunately for him this wasn't the worst thing to happen in 2012.. but perhaps more on that another day.
5 bikes stolen, 1 lost and 1 faulty in 6 years is not exactly a great record... Fortunately I'm pleased to say that in the 2 years I've owned road bikes I've not had either of them stolen, and long may that continue!
Thanks for reading and sorry Mum & Dad for the money you spent on bikes for me that I had stolen and lost!
Tuesday 5 February 2013
Presents!
Don't you just love ordering things off the internet?
You can browse multiple shops, compare prices and order without moving. We're living in the future! My new favourite thing is the free returns service Collect+. It means you can go into select shops (mostly corner shops) open at much more sociable hours than post offices and drop off your parcel and the postman collects them from the shop the next day!
I've only had one experience of this so far - returning a DVD to Amazon after Christmas. I dropped off the parcel at 9pm on a Wednesday evening, the postman picked it up Thursday morning and Amazon had taken receipt of the item by 11pm on Thursday. 26hours to get there and all at no cost to me!
This week I've ordered some bits and bobs for my ever expanding collection of triathlon gear. Some has come already and I'm stupidly excited about it all.
- New High5 bottles with gels & water supplements. This is one of the best deals I've ever seen. A 750ml water bottle, two gels, two electrolyte tabs and two carb isolate drink supplements (one with whey protein too) for £2.08! Yes, £2.08. I'd pay more for just the bottle on it's own! So good I ordered 5! (Plus you need to spend £10 for free delivery) These fit perfectly in my Elite bottle cages so one of my favourite purchases ever (I previously bought two, one each for me and my housemate James.) Can be found here, on ProBikeKit.
You can browse multiple shops, compare prices and order without moving. We're living in the future! My new favourite thing is the free returns service Collect+. It means you can go into select shops (mostly corner shops) open at much more sociable hours than post offices and drop off your parcel and the postman collects them from the shop the next day!
I've only had one experience of this so far - returning a DVD to Amazon after Christmas. I dropped off the parcel at 9pm on a Wednesday evening, the postman picked it up Thursday morning and Amazon had taken receipt of the item by 11pm on Thursday. 26hours to get there and all at no cost to me!
This week I've ordered some bits and bobs for my ever expanding collection of triathlon gear. Some has come already and I'm stupidly excited about it all.
- New High5 bottles with gels & water supplements. This is one of the best deals I've ever seen. A 750ml water bottle, two gels, two electrolyte tabs and two carb isolate drink supplements (one with whey protein too) for £2.08! Yes, £2.08. I'd pay more for just the bottle on it's own! So good I ordered 5! (Plus you need to spend £10 for free delivery) These fit perfectly in my Elite bottle cages so one of my favourite purchases ever (I previously bought two, one each for me and my housemate James.) Can be found here, on ProBikeKit.
- BioTex leg warmers. These were another bargain - bought off the bikeradar forums for just £4 I am super happy with these. Stretchy enough to make sure there's no gap between bib shorts and leg warmers and small enough to tuck in a jersey pocket if needs be. The guy who sent them to me spent £3.65 on postage too so not sure where the business sense was in that for him, still - great deal for me!
- Swim hat. Got myself a swim hat because I'm fed up of my hair being in my eyes when I swim, yet I'm not quite ready to cut it off! This hasn't arrived yet but for £1.68 I'm not expecting too much - still, might take off 1/100 of a second per length for me ;-)
- Tri belt. Something I will benefit from now I have a trisuit (investment after the Southwell tri) I will be using a tri belt to keep my number on for bike/run in future triathlons. I got this one off ebay for under £4 and it comes with poppers to hold the race number on and space for 6 gels that get held on. Again this hasn't come yet but I'm looking forward to seeing if it's as good as it sounds.
- Tri-bars. This is my most recent purchase. Been looking for a while and all the decent ones seem to go for well above £30 (still above my budget!) so I found some on wheelies.co.uk here for £18 with clamp adaptor (not sure what size my handlebars are..), also with free postage and free Collect+ returns (hence the mention earlier) so I can buy with confidence that they can go straight back if they're no good!
- Mystery item! Bought something as a present for my housemate today - hopefully will turn up before the weekend so I can surprise him Saturday night - I'm just nice like that! Will post results here if it all turns out as well as it does in my head!
I think that's it for now... a nice lot of things to be going on with - I think in the near future some purchases will be new running shoes for me & the missus as we're getting to go out a fair few times together and I might treat myself to some new bar tape for the Bianchi come the better weather!
However, it's my anniversary on Friday and then Valentines next week so perhaps the trainers will have to wait a few more weeks until the next pay day.
:o)
Widgets on blogger?
Hi, on the slim chance that anybody reads this... I need some help.
I want to make some small changes to my blog but I can't find any up-to-date info from Google on on Bloggers G+ page..
How do I put widgets down the side of my blog?! I just want Strava & twitter feeds really.. but can't find the option anywhere?! Please leave a comment or email me if you can help!
Also - I'd like to move the text at the top of the page to a more central position but can't figure it out either... not sure if I'm useless or if it's really hard..
Cheers :o)
I want to make some small changes to my blog but I can't find any up-to-date info from Google on on Bloggers G+ page..
How do I put widgets down the side of my blog?! I just want Strava & twitter feeds really.. but can't find the option anywhere?! Please leave a comment or email me if you can help!
Also - I'd like to move the text at the top of the page to a more central position but can't figure it out either... not sure if I'm useless or if it's really hard..
Cheers :o)
Sunday 3 February 2013
Lincoln Wheelers - My First Club Run
Well, what a lovely morning I had! I started off quite nervous - as Hayley texted me saying she wasn't really up for it as she'd done 110km the day before so I set off on my own to the start of the Club Run, hoping they'd be friendly and they were! As I was on the road looking for the house where we were starting one of the guys asked me if I was looking for the Wheelers and then showed me where I needed to go, lovely!
When I got there, everyone greeted me - I think they knew someone new was coming! I met the guy I'd been emailing in the week and I set off with the B group who were aiming to average 16mph over 40-45miles. We had a nice chat and I got introduced to some of the others as we went along. I sat mostly at the back of the bunch, sometimes in the middle, getting used to the calls and hand signals. Before I had a chance to take my turn on the front the group split with 5 going off ahead and the rest of us playing catch up. This was my first experience of "getting dropped" and it was weird watching the gap grow and grow and knowing that I wouldn't be able to bridge it without completely tiring myself out. Me and one other dropped the other three behind us accidentally and the two of us battled on for the last 20k or so, into the wind which was tough but it was good to be out. I enjoyed doing a route I would have never done otherwise, and each week the Wheelers route starts from a different persons house which throws in some nice variety.
When we got back there was a feast waiting for us. It had been advertised as tea and cake but in reality it was a full spread of party food - incredible. I'd go again just for the post-ride snack!
I had a great experience out with the Wheelers and I'm defiantly going to join the club. Not sure if I'll get out much with them in the coming month or so, as the hockey season is coming to an end and we have lots of Saturday & Sunday fixtures but come the end of March once hockey is over I'll be there every week. I also got told about the local 5mile time trial coming up in the spring which I will look at entering just for a bit of experience. Now I'm off to give my legs a rest - awesome.
Ride Stats:
Distance: 60km (37.3miles)
Time: 02:27
Average Speed: 24.8kph (15.4mph)
When I got there, everyone greeted me - I think they knew someone new was coming! I met the guy I'd been emailing in the week and I set off with the B group who were aiming to average 16mph over 40-45miles. We had a nice chat and I got introduced to some of the others as we went along. I sat mostly at the back of the bunch, sometimes in the middle, getting used to the calls and hand signals. Before I had a chance to take my turn on the front the group split with 5 going off ahead and the rest of us playing catch up. This was my first experience of "getting dropped" and it was weird watching the gap grow and grow and knowing that I wouldn't be able to bridge it without completely tiring myself out. Me and one other dropped the other three behind us accidentally and the two of us battled on for the last 20k or so, into the wind which was tough but it was good to be out. I enjoyed doing a route I would have never done otherwise, and each week the Wheelers route starts from a different persons house which throws in some nice variety.
When we got back there was a feast waiting for us. It had been advertised as tea and cake but in reality it was a full spread of party food - incredible. I'd go again just for the post-ride snack!
I had a great experience out with the Wheelers and I'm defiantly going to join the club. Not sure if I'll get out much with them in the coming month or so, as the hockey season is coming to an end and we have lots of Saturday & Sunday fixtures but come the end of March once hockey is over I'll be there every week. I also got told about the local 5mile time trial coming up in the spring which I will look at entering just for a bit of experience. Now I'm off to give my legs a rest - awesome.
Ride Stats:
Distance: 60km (37.3miles)
Time: 02:27
Average Speed: 24.8kph (15.4mph)
Friday 1 February 2013
Lincoln Sprint Triathlon
Sunday 21st April 2013 is the date that I will be doing my 2nd sprint triathlon. This time locally ran by the David Lloyd gym in Lincoln. The course is marginally longer than the previous sprint tri I did, with the bike being 22km rather than 17.6km but with a lot less hills.
The swim is a bit of a non-entity as it's just a normal 25m indoor pool.
The bike course is fairly flat except Burton Village hill (16%) and then down a longer, less steep hill back down into Saxilby 5 miles later. Hopefully this will be a quicker (av. speed wise) than the previous tri so I am aiming for 42min over the 22k (19.5mph). Will be great to try and catch up with more people again, though this time I face being overtaken as I will be swimming a bit later with the faster bunch as I've put my swim time down as 12minutes..
The run course is nice and flat too, and it's along the River Witham leading towards Lincoln's Brayford Pool. Looking to hit the run hard and attack the last half of the course - I'd love to come in at a 22:xx but a 23:xx would be fine too. I will have run the Lincoln 10k a fortnight before so hopefully will have some spare in the tank to really go for it.
My aims, based on the previous tri and fitness speculation are:
Swim - 10:00
T1 - 2:00
Bike - 42:00
T2 - 1:00
Run - 22:xx
This would give me a time of around 1:17:xx which would be just outside the top 100 from last year - which would be a marked improvement on the Southwell tri in September.
Best get training! :o)
The swim is a bit of a non-entity as it's just a normal 25m indoor pool.
The bike course is fairly flat except Burton Village hill (16%) and then down a longer, less steep hill back down into Saxilby 5 miles later. Hopefully this will be a quicker (av. speed wise) than the previous tri so I am aiming for 42min over the 22k (19.5mph). Will be great to try and catch up with more people again, though this time I face being overtaken as I will be swimming a bit later with the faster bunch as I've put my swim time down as 12minutes..
The run course is nice and flat too, and it's along the River Witham leading towards Lincoln's Brayford Pool. Looking to hit the run hard and attack the last half of the course - I'd love to come in at a 22:xx but a 23:xx would be fine too. I will have run the Lincoln 10k a fortnight before so hopefully will have some spare in the tank to really go for it.
My aims, based on the previous tri and fitness speculation are:
Swim - 10:00
T1 - 2:00
Bike - 42:00
T2 - 1:00
Run - 22:xx
This would give me a time of around 1:17:xx which would be just outside the top 100 from last year - which would be a marked improvement on the Southwell tri in September.
Best get training! :o)
Running & the Lincoln 10k
So this year I've entered the Lincoln 10k. Every year I've been here (5 years) I've said I was going to do it - and if this year is my last year here, I better get on it.
I've never ran further than 5k without stopping so this will be a real challenge for me. I know a lot of people could run 10k in their sleep, but it's not really something that comes naturally to me. Maybe it's a bit of a mental block but I really struggle to take then next step sometimes, so I can find training difficult.
Luckily I have some friends around me who are also doing the 10k who will hopefully train with me and make sure I stick at it! I know I can run 5k in sub 25mins but will need lots of work to complete the 10k in my target of sub 50mins.
I still have 10 weeks so the plan is get back up to doing 5k without stopping and increasing the distance by half a km per week. I also want to be running at least twice a week, outside or in the gym, on top of playing hockey on saturdays. I'll be using strava to track my runs so if I can get it working down the side of my page, you can follow progress there.
I've never ran further than 5k without stopping so this will be a real challenge for me. I know a lot of people could run 10k in their sleep, but it's not really something that comes naturally to me. Maybe it's a bit of a mental block but I really struggle to take then next step sometimes, so I can find training difficult.
Luckily I have some friends around me who are also doing the 10k who will hopefully train with me and make sure I stick at it! I know I can run 5k in sub 25mins but will need lots of work to complete the 10k in my target of sub 50mins.
I still have 10 weeks so the plan is get back up to doing 5k without stopping and increasing the distance by half a km per week. I also want to be running at least twice a week, outside or in the gym, on top of playing hockey on saturdays. I'll be using strava to track my runs so if I can get it working down the side of my page, you can follow progress there.
2013 Targets
2013
2013 is a massive year for me. The targets outside of sport are:
1) Get married (not really a target but it's my main focus this year.)
2) Move house out of our shared accommodation
3) Find a new job out of Lincoln, preferably in/near London
4) Move house, again, to location of new job.
This might not leave me too much time to do sporty things but I'm going to try. These are my 2013 sporting (cycling/triathlon related) targets.
Event Type Targets
1) Join a cycling club, be comfortable with riding in a bunch and maybe enter some local races/TTs
2) Complete the Lincoln 10k in sub-50minutes.
3) Complete the Lincoln Triathlon in sub 1hour 20.
4) Complete the Essendex Last Minute Triathlon in sub 1 hour 15, ideally under 1 hour 10.
5) Lose weight and be toned for my wedding & honeymoon (alright, not strictly sport related but hopefully a by-product!)
6) Possibly complete a sportive - though I'm not sure how I feel about this. I would rather race I think.
Individual Discipline Targets
7) Ride 3000km in 2013. That's 250km per month, 62km per week. One long ride a week is easily achievable so really I'd like to surpass this goal, but free time will be very limited come the summer with wedding prep, the big day and then 2 weeks honeymoon.
8) Run 500km. This works out at running a little under 10k a week. Should be easily achievable in the run up to the 10k and Lincoln Tri but I want to keep this up in the middle-time so I won't lose fitness
9) Swim 400m frontcrawl without stopping. Swimming is where I can cut the most time off my triathlons for the smallest effort. I'd love to get down to 09:xx or even 08:xx for a 400m swim and there's no reason why not with a lot of practice!
Seem a lot harder now I've written them all out - eek!
2013 is a massive year for me. The targets outside of sport are:
1) Get married (not really a target but it's my main focus this year.)
2) Move house out of our shared accommodation
3) Find a new job out of Lincoln, preferably in/near London
4) Move house, again, to location of new job.
This might not leave me too much time to do sporty things but I'm going to try. These are my 2013 sporting (cycling/triathlon related) targets.
Event Type Targets
1) Join a cycling club, be comfortable with riding in a bunch and maybe enter some local races/TTs
2) Complete the Lincoln 10k in sub-50minutes.
3) Complete the Lincoln Triathlon in sub 1hour 20.
4) Complete the Essendex Last Minute Triathlon in sub 1 hour 15, ideally under 1 hour 10.
5) Lose weight and be toned for my wedding & honeymoon (alright, not strictly sport related but hopefully a by-product!)
6) Possibly complete a sportive - though I'm not sure how I feel about this. I would rather race I think.
Individual Discipline Targets
7) Ride 3000km in 2013. That's 250km per month, 62km per week. One long ride a week is easily achievable so really I'd like to surpass this goal, but free time will be very limited come the summer with wedding prep, the big day and then 2 weeks honeymoon.
8) Run 500km. This works out at running a little under 10k a week. Should be easily achievable in the run up to the 10k and Lincoln Tri but I want to keep this up in the middle-time so I won't lose fitness
9) Swim 400m frontcrawl without stopping. Swimming is where I can cut the most time off my triathlons for the smallest effort. I'd love to get down to 09:xx or even 08:xx for a 400m swim and there's no reason why not with a lot of practice!
Seem a lot harder now I've written them all out - eek!
Lincoln Wheelers - First contact & anticipation
Before Christmas I was looking into joining a cycling club. It seems like a good thing to do and I'm lucky enough to have two based near me.
I first contacted Velo Club Lincoln who train right on my doorstep - at the leisure centre behind my house. I contacted them and went along one Thursday to meet the chairman at one of their winter turbo sessions. When I got there however, the room was empty and although a few guys were riding around outside I didn't feel welcome and there was defiantly an air of snobbishness around. I apologise to anyone who's in the club - I'm sure that's not the case but I just didn't feel welcome and left without speaking to anyone further about the club.
This past week I contacted Lincoln Wheelers who have a superior website which is kept up to date and is all round more informative. I asked if Hayley and I could tag along to their Sunday ride and they said yes! So we're both excited to get out and do some steady miles with them this Sunday and hopefully make some friends and maybe even join the club! Argh! I've never ridden in a bunch so I am a bit nervous, but I'm sure once we get there it will be easy enough to get integrated and having someone there I already know will help. (Or hinder us as we'll both be nervous - hmm.)
Suffice it to say I eagerly await Sunday morning and hope that I can a) keep up and not get dropped on the ride and b) really enjoy myself and get some almost-Spring miles in my legs.
I will update with how it went Sunday afternoon or next week sometime - wish me luck! :o)
I first contacted Velo Club Lincoln who train right on my doorstep - at the leisure centre behind my house. I contacted them and went along one Thursday to meet the chairman at one of their winter turbo sessions. When I got there however, the room was empty and although a few guys were riding around outside I didn't feel welcome and there was defiantly an air of snobbishness around. I apologise to anyone who's in the club - I'm sure that's not the case but I just didn't feel welcome and left without speaking to anyone further about the club.
This past week I contacted Lincoln Wheelers who have a superior website which is kept up to date and is all round more informative. I asked if Hayley and I could tag along to their Sunday ride and they said yes! So we're both excited to get out and do some steady miles with them this Sunday and hopefully make some friends and maybe even join the club! Argh! I've never ridden in a bunch so I am a bit nervous, but I'm sure once we get there it will be easy enough to get integrated and having someone there I already know will help. (Or hinder us as we'll both be nervous - hmm.)
Suffice it to say I eagerly await Sunday morning and hope that I can a) keep up and not get dropped on the ride and b) really enjoy myself and get some almost-Spring miles in my legs.
I will update with how it went Sunday afternoon or next week sometime - wish me luck! :o)
January Training
January was a funny month.
Over Christmas I was looking to neither lose nor gain weight - particularly difficult at that time of year.
I did quite well and came into January approx 3lbs heavier than when I went home for Christmas. This is still much heavier than I'd like to be "race weight" or more appropriately "Wedding Weight" but it was a decent starting point for 2013.
Swimming: I went swimming twice in the first week of January, once when it snowed and then three days out of the last four in January. The aim is to go twice a week and six times isn't so bad. I have also swapped from doing pre-work (always difficult to get out of bed!) to late night swimming which I find much more enjoyable. I've also bitten the bullet and joined the gym so I don't have to pay £3.30 every time to go - much more cost effective.
Each time I went my main aim was to get 400m done, and then some casual lengths afterwards, whilst working on my front crawl. I'm now at the stage where I can fairly comfortably swim half of the 16 lengths front crawl (alternate with breaststroke) and have my 400m time down to around 12 minutes.
Total Time: 3hours
Distance: 3000m (approx)
Cycling: Due to the snow it was mighty hard to get any read miles in this month. I did 60km at the beginning of the month (6th) which was our normal ride with added most of the Lincoln triathlon course thrown in and then after the snow had passed a short 28km ride in the windiest conditions I've ever ridden in. I managed one evening on the turbo (oops!) and one stint on the bike in the gym. A fairly poor month on the bike, but I'm not overly disheartened by this.
Total Time: 5 hours
Distance: 88km on roads plus approx 20km on turbo/exercise bike.
Running: I had probably my best month ever running! I went out running on a total of 5 days, as well as 1 day at the gym. That's almost twice a week. It's not much in the grand scheme of things but as I historically don't get on great with running, I'm really pleased - especially as there was a weeks break or so because of the snow.
I started off the month doing some 10k training using the Adidas MiCoach app. This took me out 4 times in the first week and a bit of the month doing various speed zones for timed intervals which was a good way of training and will probably go back to it in the future. I even got my fiancée out with me once! Once the weather hit that training stopped and I stayed indoors for a week or so. Then last Saturday I went out and did 5km on the snowy paths and nearly stacked it a few times, but came in with a respectable 25:15 which I was pleased with because of the weather and my general lack of running in the previous weeks. Then I got in the gym once this week and did 5km at a casual pace in just under half an hour.
Targets for next month will be getting out regularly or doing time in the gym and getting back to running 5km comfortably in under 25mins, before ramping up the distance for the 10k in April.
Total Time: 3 hours 15 minutes
Distance: 23.5km on roads plus 5km in the gym.
All in all, not a bad start to the year. Much more organised than I've ever been and hopefully I've put down a good basis for the rest of the year.
Thanks for reading :o)
Over Christmas I was looking to neither lose nor gain weight - particularly difficult at that time of year.
I did quite well and came into January approx 3lbs heavier than when I went home for Christmas. This is still much heavier than I'd like to be "race weight" or more appropriately "Wedding Weight" but it was a decent starting point for 2013.
Swimming: I went swimming twice in the first week of January, once when it snowed and then three days out of the last four in January. The aim is to go twice a week and six times isn't so bad. I have also swapped from doing pre-work (always difficult to get out of bed!) to late night swimming which I find much more enjoyable. I've also bitten the bullet and joined the gym so I don't have to pay £3.30 every time to go - much more cost effective.
Each time I went my main aim was to get 400m done, and then some casual lengths afterwards, whilst working on my front crawl. I'm now at the stage where I can fairly comfortably swim half of the 16 lengths front crawl (alternate with breaststroke) and have my 400m time down to around 12 minutes.
Total Time: 3hours
Distance: 3000m (approx)
Cycling: Due to the snow it was mighty hard to get any read miles in this month. I did 60km at the beginning of the month (6th) which was our normal ride with added most of the Lincoln triathlon course thrown in and then after the snow had passed a short 28km ride in the windiest conditions I've ever ridden in. I managed one evening on the turbo (oops!) and one stint on the bike in the gym. A fairly poor month on the bike, but I'm not overly disheartened by this.
Total Time: 5 hours
Distance: 88km on roads plus approx 20km on turbo/exercise bike.
Running: I had probably my best month ever running! I went out running on a total of 5 days, as well as 1 day at the gym. That's almost twice a week. It's not much in the grand scheme of things but as I historically don't get on great with running, I'm really pleased - especially as there was a weeks break or so because of the snow.
I started off the month doing some 10k training using the Adidas MiCoach app. This took me out 4 times in the first week and a bit of the month doing various speed zones for timed intervals which was a good way of training and will probably go back to it in the future. I even got my fiancée out with me once! Once the weather hit that training stopped and I stayed indoors for a week or so. Then last Saturday I went out and did 5km on the snowy paths and nearly stacked it a few times, but came in with a respectable 25:15 which I was pleased with because of the weather and my general lack of running in the previous weeks. Then I got in the gym once this week and did 5km at a casual pace in just under half an hour.
Targets for next month will be getting out regularly or doing time in the gym and getting back to running 5km comfortably in under 25mins, before ramping up the distance for the 10k in April.
Total Time: 3 hours 15 minutes
Distance: 23.5km on roads plus 5km in the gym.
All in all, not a bad start to the year. Much more organised than I've ever been and hopefully I've put down a good basis for the rest of the year.
Thanks for reading :o)
Essendex Last Minute Triathlon - September 23rd 2012
Sunday September 23rd 2012 - 5AM
Woke up feeling excited but after not too much sleep. 'Quietly' got out of bed and of course woke up my sleeping Fiancée! Got my things packed, took the wheels off my bike and waited for my Triathlon buddy Hayley to arrive.
Hayley arrived at half past 5 and we set off to Nottingham for the Essendex Last Minute Triathlon organised by One Step Beyond. Our first stop was McDonalds - to get a nice healthy breakfast of... porridge!
Alas, when we got there they weren't serving porridge due to a dodgy supplier so rather than go hungry I was persuaded into a bacon roll to start my day. (Alright, it was my idea..)
After that nutritious meal we set off for Southwell, where the Tri was to take place. My start time was an ungodly 7:25 AM so after I had signed on and picked up my race numbers and t-shirt I racked my bike and tried to listen to the briefing. The transition area could only be accessed whilst wearing your race number, and a bike could only be taken out of the transition area if the sticker number on the bike matched the number you were wearing. I hadn't experienced this before, so to be safe, I locked up my bicycle with a combination lock so no-one else could forge my number 26 race number and walk off with my bike.
After the briefing I got changed for the swim, placed my trainers outside the back and stood awaiting my start time.
Now, I should explain something about the swim. In the last decade, before this triathlon I had been swimming three times 'properly' i.e. not splashing about in the pool on holiday. The first time I struggled to do 4 lengths. The second time I managed 8. The third time, two days before the triathlon I managed the required 16 lengths (400m) all breaststroke and I think I pulled my triceps. They were still sore on Sunday morning. As a result I put my predicted time down as 16 minutes and thus started 26th on the day. Out of 520. 26th! Blimey that was a lot of people who might come past me in the next hour and a half..
After some banter and getting my sexy swimming cap on, I found myself in the pool ready to start. The pool was packed. There were 5 lanes set up, with 4-6 people in each lane. The woman blew her whistle and I was off! Ready to leave everyone in my wake and smash the 1hour 30 time I had set for myself.
Well. Sort of. I started off with my slow and steady breaststroke. Being overtaken on average once every two lengths was not much fun, pretty sure I got punched in the face on purpose too. Ah well. Sorry for being so slow!
After 14 lengths of excruciatingly slow breaststroke I considered getting out and pretending I had completed 16 lengths - who would know?! In reality I doubt anyone was counting my slow lengths to see if I cheated. But I didn't. I stayed strong and I even front-crawled the final length! I clambered out of the pool without wanting to look at my time and set off towards the transition area.
This is where my lack of experience showed for the second time (the first being piss poor at swimming.) I got to the back door, put my trainers on and pulled a t-shirt over my head. I then walked(!) off towards the transition area, not realising that the timer chip on my ankle would be recording my 'swim time' until I reached the transition area.
Swim: 19:50 for a 400m swim. Looking at results that put me dead last. Last. Being 6 seconds slower than the 2nd to last person.
Anyway, I didn't know that at the time. I got to the transition area and went to my bike. It wasn't there. Crap. "Where's my bike? Where's my bike? Oh. I'm looking on the wrong rack." Silly me.
I took my trainers off that I'd worn from the pool and put on some socks and my cycling shoes. Put on my helmet, unlocked my bike and wheeled it across the grass and out of the transition area.
T1: 02:50 - now second to last. Though at the time I had no idea and had plenty of people in front and behind me on the course.
Onto the bike then. The course was 17.6km of rolling hills. The course started off with the biggest hill, which was nice, then three smaller hills before going round a roundabout and coming back on yourself. This meant the end of the bike was a fast downhill back to the transition area. Course map & profile found here.
The bike was my strongest point. I overtook at least a dozen competitors without having anyone go past me. Granted these were all the slow swim time people so probably slowest overall times but it felt good to see someone up ahead, catch them and pass them. I was lucky as when I got to the roundabout I didn't have to wait for any traffic and could carry straight on. I was passing lots of guys numbered 30-45 who overtook me in the swim, so it felt good to gain some time back.
As I finished I managed to remember to get off my bike before the transition area (girl just in front of me wasn't so lucky) and ran back to my stuff with my bike. Locking it up again once I got there.
Cycle: 36:45. Averaging 17.9mph over some hilly terrain I was pretty pleased with. Came in the top half just about for the bike which was great as I didn't have tribars or even a trisuit to get "more aero" just some wet shorts and a tee.
After I racked up my bike, I took off my cycling shoes, stepped into the running shoes and after a brief confusion of where to go, I was off. I thought that this was a quick transition but the timing says otherwise - not sure really what took so long but it's somewhere I can (hopefully) easily improve on in the future.
T2: 02:12. This made me on 1 hour 1 minute and 35 seconds, giving me a decent chunk of time in the run to get in under my goal time of 1 hour 30.
I set off on the run behind a few girls who I quickly overtook before the course took a sharp turn upwards. I knew this hill was coming (it's called the Southwell Slope) but it still took plenty of energy out of me. Here is the course map & profile. The next 800m were flat and upon rounding a corner I saw two race organisers stood by a cone reading the list of numbers and shouting out competitors names, which was a really nice touch and very motivating. You then ran back on yourself and down the hill before going into the final stretch and turning left 180degs to go back onto the course for lap 2. A quick water station done and I was within 2500m of finishing my very first triathlon. The 2nd lap was really difficult but also really inspiring. As you ran with/behind people you were encouraging each other "Not long left!" "Keep it up, you're doing great" and the people running in the opposite direction were equally as helpful/inspirational. As you weren't sure if people were on the first or last lap I found myself encouraging everyone I went past in both directions. Once more around the cone and the two girls ("Come on, Adrian!) and I was close, so very close. I paced myself behind a chap on the way back going at what felt like a decent speed for the last 1/4 of a 5k. As we went down the hill and into the playing fields the crowd was cheering and I could hear the man on the loudspeaker announcing who was about to finish. We turned right this time and towards the finish line. The guy in front of me kicked and he was off, 'beating me' by a couple of seconds. My name was announced as I crossed the line, exhausted. I found the High5 stand and took on some energy juice before contemplating what I'd just done. I had finished my first triathlon! After minimal training I hadn't failed and I felt really pleased with myself.
Run: 24:00. 24minutes! A new PB for me and after a swim and a bike ride! I guess the adrenaline really got me through!
Overall: My overall time was 1:25:35 which I was really pleased with. I had come in before my target of 1:30 and didn't feel like dying. I looked back at my splits and could easily identify where I'd lost the most time. The swim and the transitions - but I was still incredibly proud. Hayley came in at 1:19:46 with a quicker time in the swim and transitions but marginally slower on the bike and run - I'm coming for you next time!
In the end I finished 425th out of 505 finishers which to be honest is fairly horrific but hopefully easily remedied with a bit of swimming practice and being a bit more aware/quicker on the transitions.
Authors Note: The reason I mentioned locking my bike up a lot was at the end I had a "see me" from a race referee who wanted to disqualify me for locking me bike up as it was unfair to others if my bike was more easily noticeable (ironic as I lost sight of it in T1!) After I explained it was my first time and I just didn't want it to be stolen they let me off and let my time stand, phew!
Woke up feeling excited but after not too much sleep. 'Quietly' got out of bed and of course woke up my sleeping Fiancée! Got my things packed, took the wheels off my bike and waited for my Triathlon buddy Hayley to arrive.
Hayley arrived at half past 5 and we set off to Nottingham for the Essendex Last Minute Triathlon organised by One Step Beyond. Our first stop was McDonalds - to get a nice healthy breakfast of... porridge!
Alas, when we got there they weren't serving porridge due to a dodgy supplier so rather than go hungry I was persuaded into a bacon roll to start my day. (Alright, it was my idea..)
After that nutritious meal we set off for Southwell, where the Tri was to take place. My start time was an ungodly 7:25 AM so after I had signed on and picked up my race numbers and t-shirt I racked my bike and tried to listen to the briefing. The transition area could only be accessed whilst wearing your race number, and a bike could only be taken out of the transition area if the sticker number on the bike matched the number you were wearing. I hadn't experienced this before, so to be safe, I locked up my bicycle with a combination lock so no-one else could forge my number 26 race number and walk off with my bike.
After the briefing I got changed for the swim, placed my trainers outside the back and stood awaiting my start time.
Now, I should explain something about the swim. In the last decade, before this triathlon I had been swimming three times 'properly' i.e. not splashing about in the pool on holiday. The first time I struggled to do 4 lengths. The second time I managed 8. The third time, two days before the triathlon I managed the required 16 lengths (400m) all breaststroke and I think I pulled my triceps. They were still sore on Sunday morning. As a result I put my predicted time down as 16 minutes and thus started 26th on the day. Out of 520. 26th! Blimey that was a lot of people who might come past me in the next hour and a half..
After some banter and getting my sexy swimming cap on, I found myself in the pool ready to start. The pool was packed. There were 5 lanes set up, with 4-6 people in each lane. The woman blew her whistle and I was off! Ready to leave everyone in my wake and smash the 1hour 30 time I had set for myself.
Well. Sort of. I started off with my slow and steady breaststroke. Being overtaken on average once every two lengths was not much fun, pretty sure I got punched in the face on purpose too. Ah well. Sorry for being so slow!
After 14 lengths of excruciatingly slow breaststroke I considered getting out and pretending I had completed 16 lengths - who would know?! In reality I doubt anyone was counting my slow lengths to see if I cheated. But I didn't. I stayed strong and I even front-crawled the final length! I clambered out of the pool without wanting to look at my time and set off towards the transition area.
This is where my lack of experience showed for the second time (the first being piss poor at swimming.) I got to the back door, put my trainers on and pulled a t-shirt over my head. I then walked(!) off towards the transition area, not realising that the timer chip on my ankle would be recording my 'swim time' until I reached the transition area.
Swim: 19:50 for a 400m swim. Looking at results that put me dead last. Last. Being 6 seconds slower than the 2nd to last person.
Anyway, I didn't know that at the time. I got to the transition area and went to my bike. It wasn't there. Crap. "Where's my bike? Where's my bike? Oh. I'm looking on the wrong rack." Silly me.
I took my trainers off that I'd worn from the pool and put on some socks and my cycling shoes. Put on my helmet, unlocked my bike and wheeled it across the grass and out of the transition area.
T1: 02:50 - now second to last. Though at the time I had no idea and had plenty of people in front and behind me on the course.
Onto the bike then. The course was 17.6km of rolling hills. The course started off with the biggest hill, which was nice, then three smaller hills before going round a roundabout and coming back on yourself. This meant the end of the bike was a fast downhill back to the transition area. Course map & profile found here.
The bike was my strongest point. I overtook at least a dozen competitors without having anyone go past me. Granted these were all the slow swim time people so probably slowest overall times but it felt good to see someone up ahead, catch them and pass them. I was lucky as when I got to the roundabout I didn't have to wait for any traffic and could carry straight on. I was passing lots of guys numbered 30-45 who overtook me in the swim, so it felt good to gain some time back.
As I finished I managed to remember to get off my bike before the transition area (girl just in front of me wasn't so lucky) and ran back to my stuff with my bike. Locking it up again once I got there.
Cycle: 36:45. Averaging 17.9mph over some hilly terrain I was pretty pleased with. Came in the top half just about for the bike which was great as I didn't have tribars or even a trisuit to get "more aero" just some wet shorts and a tee.
After I racked up my bike, I took off my cycling shoes, stepped into the running shoes and after a brief confusion of where to go, I was off. I thought that this was a quick transition but the timing says otherwise - not sure really what took so long but it's somewhere I can (hopefully) easily improve on in the future.
T2: 02:12. This made me on 1 hour 1 minute and 35 seconds, giving me a decent chunk of time in the run to get in under my goal time of 1 hour 30.
I set off on the run behind a few girls who I quickly overtook before the course took a sharp turn upwards. I knew this hill was coming (it's called the Southwell Slope) but it still took plenty of energy out of me. Here is the course map & profile. The next 800m were flat and upon rounding a corner I saw two race organisers stood by a cone reading the list of numbers and shouting out competitors names, which was a really nice touch and very motivating. You then ran back on yourself and down the hill before going into the final stretch and turning left 180degs to go back onto the course for lap 2. A quick water station done and I was within 2500m of finishing my very first triathlon. The 2nd lap was really difficult but also really inspiring. As you ran with/behind people you were encouraging each other "Not long left!" "Keep it up, you're doing great" and the people running in the opposite direction were equally as helpful/inspirational. As you weren't sure if people were on the first or last lap I found myself encouraging everyone I went past in both directions. Once more around the cone and the two girls ("Come on, Adrian!) and I was close, so very close. I paced myself behind a chap on the way back going at what felt like a decent speed for the last 1/4 of a 5k. As we went down the hill and into the playing fields the crowd was cheering and I could hear the man on the loudspeaker announcing who was about to finish. We turned right this time and towards the finish line. The guy in front of me kicked and he was off, 'beating me' by a couple of seconds. My name was announced as I crossed the line, exhausted. I found the High5 stand and took on some energy juice before contemplating what I'd just done. I had finished my first triathlon! After minimal training I hadn't failed and I felt really pleased with myself.
Run: 24:00. 24minutes! A new PB for me and after a swim and a bike ride! I guess the adrenaline really got me through!
Overall: My overall time was 1:25:35 which I was really pleased with. I had come in before my target of 1:30 and didn't feel like dying. I looked back at my splits and could easily identify where I'd lost the most time. The swim and the transitions - but I was still incredibly proud. Hayley came in at 1:19:46 with a quicker time in the swim and transitions but marginally slower on the bike and run - I'm coming for you next time!
In the end I finished 425th out of 505 finishers which to be honest is fairly horrific but hopefully easily remedied with a bit of swimming practice and being a bit more aware/quicker on the transitions.
Authors Note: The reason I mentioned locking my bike up a lot was at the end I had a "see me" from a race referee who wanted to disqualify me for locking me bike up as it was unfair to others if my bike was more easily noticeable (ironic as I lost sight of it in T1!) After I explained it was my first time and I just didn't want it to be stolen they let me off and let my time stand, phew!
First Post!
Right then, what is this all about?
First I'll introduce myself - Adrian Snow, 22 and currently living in Lincoln. I work full time and my spare time is taken up by my fiancée, amateur dramatics and sport.
This blog is about the sport element of my life - though no doubt some of the other two bits will leak in (hint: especially about the fiancée.) I decided I need some accountability in my endeavours to get fit so I should blog about them - even if I get 0 readers!
Inspiration for this blog comes from reading the likes of:
Tim Wiggin's Cycling blog
Rob Sharland's First Season Racing blog
James Shuttleworth - GB Age Group Triathlete - blog
I will try and credit/link to as many other blogs/websites that I can to get anybody who stumbles onto this blog into some proper good reading!
Bikes
My story with cycling started at the age of 5. My Grandad built me a bike from spares at a scrapyard and took me out to the field behind his house. Pushed me off and watched me fall off, again and again until I could happily ride round that field without falling down. This love of cycling continued through the years.. I had a BMX with pink tyres (thanks Mum & Dad!) then my first real bike came at the age of 12 (a red Raleigh 'mountain bike' from cousin David.) After that I had various bikes (many got stolen or lost - a post for the future I think!) on which I conducted paper rounds, then later commuted to college and work.
Then in 2010 one of my best friends bought a road bike.
Oh. My. Goodness.
The thrill of it was incredible, the skinny tyres and the drop bars just appealed to me like nothing else. I asked him if I could borrow it for a quick spin - 10miles later and I was hooked. We watched the 2010 Tour de France together - whilst not having a clue what was going on (can't say the ITV 4 commentary was much help either...)
After that epiphany I organised a 160-mile route from Lincoln to London for charity (www.lincoln2london.blogspot.com) which I thought would be a piece of cake - it wasn't. Much hilarity ensued but my love for road cycling was not dented.
In 2011 I bought a vintage Raleigh flyer from eBay for the grand sum of £40!
[Picture to come..]
After a few quid spent it was usable and looked like this!
I started to ride this bike to work and out on weekend jaunts around the countryside. Nothing crazy but just enjoyed being out on the bike. In mid-2012 I got knocked off my bike by a car turning left and not indicating (SMIDSY!) Long story short - derailleur and gears system was screwed so I opted for the "cool" repair and get it converted to single speed and back on the road.
Now it looked like this! (Sorry for the dirty bar tape & low saddle!)
Obviously 2012 was the year for cycling in the UK. The Bradley Wiggins/Team Sky euphoria was not lost on me and I spent out on a new Road Bike as a 'weekend ride'.
I also entered a sprint triathlon in September - one of the One Step Beyond events - which whetted my appetite for future triathlons (race report coming up in another blog post). The triathlon interested me because it involved the competitiveness that my sort of personality craves (read: everything is a competition, walking to work, eating lunch fastest, being the best at changing channels on the Sky+ box..) whilst not directly involving bunch cycling which I have no experience of. Also the distances were nice and short which meant I could (probably) not fail.
Anyway, enough of the long introduction.. I'll write some more blog posts soon to catch up with my experiences so far and then talk about future events and anything else that seems relevant in my life!
Thanks for reading :-)
Adrian
First I'll introduce myself - Adrian Snow, 22 and currently living in Lincoln. I work full time and my spare time is taken up by my fiancée, amateur dramatics and sport.
This blog is about the sport element of my life - though no doubt some of the other two bits will leak in (hint: especially about the fiancée.) I decided I need some accountability in my endeavours to get fit so I should blog about them - even if I get 0 readers!
Inspiration for this blog comes from reading the likes of:
Tim Wiggin's Cycling blog
Rob Sharland's First Season Racing blog
James Shuttleworth - GB Age Group Triathlete - blog
I will try and credit/link to as many other blogs/websites that I can to get anybody who stumbles onto this blog into some proper good reading!
Bikes
My story with cycling started at the age of 5. My Grandad built me a bike from spares at a scrapyard and took me out to the field behind his house. Pushed me off and watched me fall off, again and again until I could happily ride round that field without falling down. This love of cycling continued through the years.. I had a BMX with pink tyres (thanks Mum & Dad!) then my first real bike came at the age of 12 (a red Raleigh 'mountain bike' from cousin David.) After that I had various bikes (many got stolen or lost - a post for the future I think!) on which I conducted paper rounds, then later commuted to college and work.
Then in 2010 one of my best friends bought a road bike.
Oh. My. Goodness.
The thrill of it was incredible, the skinny tyres and the drop bars just appealed to me like nothing else. I asked him if I could borrow it for a quick spin - 10miles later and I was hooked. We watched the 2010 Tour de France together - whilst not having a clue what was going on (can't say the ITV 4 commentary was much help either...)
After that epiphany I organised a 160-mile route from Lincoln to London for charity (www.lincoln2london.blogspot.com) which I thought would be a piece of cake - it wasn't. Much hilarity ensued but my love for road cycling was not dented.
In 2011 I bought a vintage Raleigh flyer from eBay for the grand sum of £40!
[Picture to come..]
After a few quid spent it was usable and looked like this!
 |
| Raleigh in restored condition. New tyres, bar tape & gear/brake service |
I started to ride this bike to work and out on weekend jaunts around the countryside. Nothing crazy but just enjoyed being out on the bike. In mid-2012 I got knocked off my bike by a car turning left and not indicating (SMIDSY!) Long story short - derailleur and gears system was screwed so I opted for the "cool" repair and get it converted to single speed and back on the road.
Now it looked like this! (Sorry for the dirty bar tape & low saddle!)
 |
| Single Speed & a new saddle |
Obviously 2012 was the year for cycling in the UK. The Bradley Wiggins/Team Sky euphoria was not lost on me and I spent out on a new Road Bike as a 'weekend ride'.
 |
| Yummy. Bianchi was an eBay bargain. |
I also entered a sprint triathlon in September - one of the One Step Beyond events - which whetted my appetite for future triathlons (race report coming up in another blog post). The triathlon interested me because it involved the competitiveness that my sort of personality craves (read: everything is a competition, walking to work, eating lunch fastest, being the best at changing channels on the Sky+ box..) whilst not directly involving bunch cycling which I have no experience of. Also the distances were nice and short which meant I could (probably) not fail.
Anyway, enough of the long introduction.. I'll write some more blog posts soon to catch up with my experiences so far and then talk about future events and anything else that seems relevant in my life!
Thanks for reading :-)
Adrian
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