Chester Triathlon Photos
Category Archives: Race Report
Stirling Sprint Triathlon – 01:20:06
This year was my third attempt at the this race. Last year I improved my time by just one second over the previous result.
At that rate of improvement it’ll be nearly 1200 years before I’ll be quick enough to win the Olympics. I
I started in the same swim lane as my brother.. After 10 laps I realised he was drafting behind me and I was making his swim easier! I immediately stopped at the end of the lane and made him go ahead. I then drafted him. Towards the end I tapped to overtake as I had a cunning plan which relied on getting out the pool first.
I accelerated to give me a short lead but just enough to get to transition first. I knew Andrew would take longer than me as he had an Aero helmet and it would take longer to put on than mine. I changed quickly and sped off.
Once I was out on the road. I went as fast as possible so that I’d be out of sight when he hit the road. I anticipated he’d then take it steady in the belief that his time trial bike and aero helmet would give him an advantage. If he could see me then he’d know what to pace to go at but this way I bet he’d choose a speed steady but slower pace.
Throughout the ride I thought he’d zoom past but luckily he didn’t. I didn’t know at the time but he thought a guy ahead of him was me. He kept the other “me” in his sights!
The run is two laps of a loop on the campus. I spotted Andrew towards the end of lap 1. He was at least 5 minutes behind so I knew their was no chance he’d catch up which made the remaining section of the run very enjoyable!
I was pleased to be 5 minutes better than last year which means if I continue that rate of improvement I could win the Olympics in Tokyo 2020!
I wonder what odds a bookie would give me for that that?
Swim: 00:15:16, Transition: 00:02:03, Bike: 00:37:48, Transition: 00:01:31, Run: 00:23:27
Stornoway Half Marathon – 1hr 44min 59s (Iain)
SCENE: A NIGHTCLUB.
It’s late at night. So late that it’s no longer today but tomorrow. Our “hero” is at the bar. He’s ordering his 7th pint of the evening/early morning. It could be his 8th. It could be his 20th. He lost count a while ago.
BARMAN
Didn’t you say you were running a half marathon tomorrow….sorry, today?
OUR HERO
What….ummm..pint…YAY….music! <starts dancing>
BARMAN (laughing)
I’ll see you at the start then!
OUR HERO (singing)
Do you remember when we used to sing,
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te daEND SCENE
The next day our “hero” made it to the half marathon but was so hungover he couldn’t hold the pen to fill in the entry form. He ran the first three miles quicker than he’d ever run before as he was desperate to get to the water stop.
It was a beautiful sunny day and the drink poured out of him in alcoholic sweaty drops. He finished the race faster than he’s ever done a half marathon before – and he spends the rest of the day in bed ill. He misses the Scottish cup final because he’s asleep/comatose.
He vows never to drink before a race again but…
He repeats this scene the next four times he enters the same race. Each time he vows never to drink again.
This weekend was the fifth attempt, and this time he vowed he would definitely do the race sober…
I achieved my goal and reached the start line sober. There was a good turnout for the race and the sun was shining. A rare sight in Stornoway – about as rare as a sober runner.
The organisers had changed the route since the last time I’d entered but it was still undulating with a few wee hills. The weather was good and I set off strongly. Too strongly: I tired in the second half and couldn’t keep up the same pace.
I finished with a personal best for the race so I was happy with that. I was only one minute quicker than my drunk time which implies I was fitter back then or that its actually okay to have a drink before the race!
Now, where did I put my dancing shoes…
Chalk & Cheese at the Radar Ride (Andrew)
You can buy a synthetic gel that tastes like a banana. You can buy a bar made of nuts and grains that tastes like a chocolate cake. You can’t buy a banana that tastes like a chocolate cake, but, with advances in sports nutrition, it won’t be long before you can. Because sports gel and bars are all about disguising what you’re actually eating.
Who wants a gel that’s a Bakewell tart or a bar that’s pretending to be a strawberry cheesecake? Manufacturers should be honest and describe things accurately. I’d much rather choose between “Chalk”, “Superglue” and “Smell Like Boak”. At least then I’d know what I was buying.
That’s why I loved the Rader Ride 2016. Instead of the usual selection of gels and bars it had read food at its feed stations. It had everything: cheese rolls, ham rolls, cheese and ham rolls. You name it (as long it involved cheese and/or ham), it had it. It had also home baking with flapjacks and banana bread and great treat like Jaffa cakes and jelly beans. And, for those that wanted a banana that tasted like a banana it had a banana.
This buffet was my downfall.
At the end of the Radar Ride, you cycle a service road to a radar station above Wanlockhead. It’s 2.5 miles of pure climbing culminating in a stunning view of Dumfries and the Borders. But, at the bottom, they had a food stop – and I couldn’t resist it. I just had to have another cheese roll. I stopped. Iain stopped. We shared a roll and then, with the road immediately ramping up, I was in the wrong gear. I had to push off a number of times to get enough speed to turn the wheel and change my gear but It was too late. Iain was already 100m up the road. He might as well have been at the top of the hill. I couldn’t catch up.
But I’d had cheese, so I was happy.
Twinning the Etape Caledonia (Andrew)
Last year at the Caledonian Etape Iain tried a break away at mile 70. We were heading to Aberfeldy, on a long flat stretch, he had his brand new aero bike, he turned round, took one look at me and started pumping his legs as fast as he could. He was off.
For the next three miles he didn’t look round. He kept his head down and his speed up. I sat on his wheel, waiting.
At Taymouth he finally looked round, I knew in his mind he was thinking “my job’s done, I’ve dropped him” but that’s when I picked up speed, went straight passed him and didn’t look back.
That was my fifth victory in a row.
This year, I thought it would be closer. I was wrong. I picked up speed at mile 20 as I thought we’d entered a sprint section. In previous years this section was just a mile long. This time it was 10 miles. I thought Iain was with me and we’d have a race towards the finish but, as the miles passed and I realised that I’d miscalculated I also realised Iain had not kept up. I was on my own.
I was feeling good. Despite a cold during the week I was breathing okay and not coughing too much. I kept going, setting small goals for myself. Keep up with this group. Join this chain. Pass these people on Schiehalion. Use the drops on the way to Taymouth.
I know the course so well. We would go on summer holiday to Aberfeldy and I’ve cycled parts of the route many times. It makes such a difference to know the course. You know when to push, when to relax and how long it takes between places.
With every mile I still felt fresh so I just kept going. I had some gels in my pocket so didn’t need to stop so I wondered how fast I could go. I’d hoped to finish in under 4hrs 30 mins. In the end I finished in 4 hours 11 minutes, 18 minutes faster than my previous personal best.
The twinner* again.
*twin + winner = twinner (trademark pending)
Never mind the Balloch to Clydebank Half Marathon (Andrew)
Two surprises. Although the first was not really a surprise. It didn’t rain, which I knew after checking the weather constantly in the run up to the race (see last blog post). The second surprise was that the route had changed. While you couldn’t call the new route scenic, it was an improvement over the old. Instead of running through along the main road through Balloch, Renton and Alexandria, the route followed the canal for the first few miles instead.
After that it was the usual ‘scenic’ route of bookies, chip shops, newsagents, whiskey warehouses and industrial units. All the sights. (All the smells).
The one thing that hadn’t changed was the bus trip from the finish line at Clydebank to the start line at Balloch. The important thing to remember when getting on the bus is to make sure you’re the first off it. Everyone goes to the toilet when they arrive. The longer you’re on the bus, the further behind you’ll be in the queue. A queue that gets slower and slower as the toilet roll in the cubicles is used up until eventually there’s only one cubicle for 200 runners. As I said, all the sights. (All the smells).
The race itself was good. I ran with Iain until mile 12 when I checked my time I thought I could beat 1 hour 45 minutes if I pushed myself and run just under 7 minutes a mile. I ran on, but I miscalculated. The finish line was further back than normal due to the change in route. I missed out by 24 seconds. I was pleased with my time though and still felt like I could have kept running. I didn’t though. I ate a banana.
Kirkintilloch 12.5KM – 14th February – 01:03:01 (Iain)
“C’MON IAIN!! You can kick this blog’s ass!”
“Iain! You’re an amazing blogger!”
“Don’t let yourself down Iain!”
If, whilst writing, I said those things out loud most people would consider me a weirdo. Especially if I was in a room full of other people.
Yesterday I did the Kirkintilloch 12.5KM race. I’ve done the 10K race previously so I assumed it would be the same but with 2.5KM added on. I was wrong. This meant that
a) I expected to start at a primary school. I didn’t realise there was more than one in Kirkintilloch. The races don’t start at the same one. I did wonder why the first school I drove too was very quiet.
b) I expected a flat fast course but it was hilly and slow.
c) I expected a selection of cakes and biscuits at the end of the race as that what I received last time. Instead I got a banana! I was looking forward to cake.
The weather was cold but sunny. There was a number of patches of Ice on the route so I had to be careful on some downhill sections. I had no expectations for the race so treated it as training jog. I therefore chatted to Andrew for the first 10K. When we got to a hill I heard him breathing heavily. I decided to make a break for the win. I picked the correct moment as he didn’t have the legs to keep up the pace and I was able to hold him off until the finish.
He beat me last time so I was determined to get a win here!
During the last 2.5Km I ran next to a guy called Steve. I know that’s his name because he kept talking to himself.
“”C’MON STEVE!! You can kick this course’s ass!”
“STEVE! You’re an amazing runner!”
You get the idea! This would be fine if he wasn’t wearing headphones!
it didn’t seem to help his performance as he conked out on a hill towards the end. Maybe if he’d spent less energy shouting at himself he’d have had some left to finish the race.
So if you feel like talking to yourself whilst running amongst strangers at least take your headphones out. Its only polite. You wouldn’t keep them in if someone else was trying to talk to you! So treat yourself with the same respect 🙂
Kirkintilloch 12.5k (Andrew)
I was going write a witty article about today’s race. I was going to mention the clear blue sky and the cold frosty morning. I was going to mention the man shovelling ice from the start line and the runners falling down hills. I was even going to (reluctantly) mention Iain beating me after running away at the 10km mark. But, instead, I’ll just post this photo as I was sad to see when I drove to the race that Kirkintilloch has a new slogan and a new sign: Kirkintilloch – forging the future. I miss this one.
Jan 24 – Nigel Barge 10k (Iain)
How long after getting a new pair of trainers do I wait before I wear them in the rain?
I delay as much as possible. My new pair will initially be used only in the gym, then they might be used on a nice day whilst running on on cocrete before finally, 3 months later, being used offroad.
Which is why Nigel Barge 10 was a dilema for most runners. It rained heavily the night before and part of the course had puddles so big I couldn’t jump over them. Do I sacrcifice time or the cleanlieness of my trainers?
I decided to run straight through the first puddle. The fear of getting wet and dirty is much worse than actually getting wet and dirty. After that I ran happily through every pddle and muddy path. My trainers now look terrible but at least i don’t feel like I cheated my performace on the run. On a side note – why do trainers never look as good as before a run no matter how many times I put them in the washing machine?
The race itself was two hilly laps of a course that won’t win any prizes for scenery. It was twice past the rubbish dump, a car wash and an industrial estate. Andrew beat me which was surprise as I can’t remember the last time he beat me!
We’d both done a 90 minute bike ride the day before. He’d gone outdoors on a course where half of it is downhill. I’d done a spin class and a stationary bike. I think the running result proves my 90 minutes were harder than his. After all, it can’t be because he was better than me. Can it?
The fourth discipline of triathalon is lying. Lying to ourselves about results and lying to ourselves about training. Of course I ran 10km even though my watch said it was only 9.8km and of course Andrew beat me because I trained harder than him…
Twin brothers swimming, cycling and running in Scotland 