We're going to the Worlds!!!

As I removed my leggings ready to jump into a steaming hot bath back at the cosy 15^th century coaching inn we were staying in after my exertions at the Anglian Water Standard Distance Duathlon were over, you would think I had participated in a duathlon cross, so great was the deposit of mud that fell off them onto the pristine hotel bathroom floor. No, in fact it was a road duathlon but one which took place in zero degree temperatures, in a thick fog and with a hilly, muddy off-road run that saw 300+ duathletes all start at once on a narrow trail path that runs alongside Grafham Water. I thought I had thoroughly researched the course, but the volume of hills on a path that runs adjacent to a lake caught me by surprise: you were either running up or down something, there was no real flat to speak of. Mind you, hills can feel worse when you can’t see the end of them and with visibility at the start of the race for the first 10k run at around 10m, you couldn’t really see much to be honest!

I always knew a race in the middle of February offered a higher than usual chance of offering up some harsh conditions. However, there are only 3 opportunities to qualify for the standard distance world championships this year, and one of those is in Stirling, in Scotland. East Anglia in February versus Scotland in March was a close call, but the former won out due to the travel distance being three quarters less! Trekking all the way to Stirling to puncture wouldn’t be a laugh. The other race is Clumber Park, which I had pencilled in as my back up option as it’s a month later, but as that race also incorporates the National Duathlon Championships this year, I knew competition there would be tough, so better to try and secure qualification at Anglian Water…. I hadn’t considered that that would make this race even more competitive amongst the age-groupers as people who were either looking to avoid the National Champs or else avoid a trip to Scotland would all rock up here!

I knew coming into the race I had had a good build up. You’d think that would provide some reassurance and a confidence boost, right? Well, not for me; it just provided added pressure as I had no excuses not to do well. Last year I went into the Clumber Park ETU sprint qualifier on the back of a 9 week long cough-cold-chest infection combo that massively disrupted my training and preparation. I ended up doing ok and won my age group and placed 4^th overall, but if I hadn’t done okay, mentally it wouldn’t have been a disaster as I could have soothed myself with the unction that I did the best I could, given the far from ideal circumstances. This year, there were no such excuses to hide behind: I hadn’t had so much as a snivel all winter and I had also enlisted the services of a coach, so I felt I had to put out a really strong performance to justify this, otherwise how could I write off a bad day at the office beyond the harsh reality that I just sucked?! No excuse-mongering, just go out there and nail it!

So, whilst the pressure was on (well, I had put it on myself), at the same time I was excited to get out there and see what I could do. I knew I was rounding into decent shape at the right time and I knew I had worked really hard to improve my biking all winter, so I was eager to see how this would translate to my performance on the road. Race day morning arrived and, as I sat necking a strong coffee and some protein enriched chia seed porridge in my hotel room whilst the dulcet Scottish tones of the women’s Olympic curling team hummed away on the TV in the background, I glanced out the window to see the cars all frosted up and a thick fog lying low. Not my racing conditions of choice! I know I feel the cold more than most so I decided to race pretty much covered from head to toe with long compression socks, Skins compression leggings, a base layer, my Tri Coach Cornwall tri vest over the top, a buff around my neck, a beanie hat on my head, and a thick pair of gloves on. When I stood on the start line next to other athletes who were just in a tri suit with bare legs and, for some, bare arms too, I did feel a little over dressed, but I also felt friggin’ cold and so I resolved to stick to what works best for me and avoid a repeat of the hypothermic Slateman suffer-fest of 2016! I can honestly say that at no point during that race did I feel too hot and regret the layers!

The start: very congested, narrow and chaotic. Not regretting the OTT clothing choices though, brrrr it was cold!

 The first run was congested, fast and furious. We all set off at once – all the men, all the women – charging down a narrow lake-side muddy path, dodging icy puddles in attempt not to soak and freeze my feet totally before the bike section. I don’t start fast, it takes me time to work my legs into a race, but even I was alarmed by the sheer volume of women who went charging off away from me into the misty murk. At about one mile in, I figured there were at least 20 females ahead of me and so I started to re-evalute my pre-race target of a top ten overall finish and a top 3 age-group placing. Approaching the half-way dead turn, I was beginning to find my running legs and I started to pick people off. 'Out' was with a tailwind and 'back' into a headwind, and my return splits were only 0.10m/m slower than my first 3 outward miles, so my usual metronomic pacing took over and delivered me into T1 as 6^th lady overall and 3^rd age cat. My husband said I passed a couple of females in transition (must be getting swifter at these!) and then I overtook a couple more very early on on the bike.  Approximately 5 miles into the 24 mile bike leg I caught and passed the leading female (though I didn’t realise this then, I estimated I was about 5^th overall at this point), but she was having none of that and came straight back past me. I kept her in sight throughout the rest of the bike leg but just couldn’t quite stay close enough. Entering T2 one of the marshalls told me I was 2^nd overall and the first lady was 30 seconds in front. Time to get to work.

Foggy as hell, and I am dressed from top to toe in black with no bike lights... yeah, I felt incredibly safe out there on the open roads bike course!

 Leaving T2, I instantly knew that all was not well. I usually bound away, running well off a bike, but not today. I tried to get into my stride and found my whole body just did not want to know. I think I had left too much out on the bike course and my tank was now running on fumes. Matt later told me that he had never seen me look so tired and drained coming off the bike (luckily he didn’t say this whilst I was racing, just a bit of vocal support in the form of, ‘Go on Ellie, dig in, you can do it.’). Unfortunately for me, the girl out in front was also a damn good runner; I haven’t prioritised the running this winter, so that, coupled with the fact that I was utterly knackered, meant I had no choice but to watch her disappear into the distance (the mist had now lifted and the hills looked even worse in the sunlight than they did obscured by fog!) I wasn’t focussed on trying to real her in, I was more concerned about the ladies behind catching me as I was struggling now just to put one foot in front of the other. “Only 5k, just a parkrun; come on, you can do this. Wait? A whole parkrun? Oh, bloody hell, that’s 20 minutes more suffering at least, I don’t know if I can do it”. I have never wanted to walk before in a 5k race, but I did today. Every time I hit an uphill section I wanted to walk so badly, my breathing rate was through the roof. Should a 5k ever feel this hard at this speed? In reality, my second run pace was only 0.15m/m slower than my first, but it felt horrendous, like I had no rhythm whatsoever and it was just a survival mission. The one plus was that aside from the winner, all the ladies behind me were finding the going equally tough, and some who posted a 38 min first run only managed 23 mins + for the second 5k run.

That finish line was a welcome sight. As was the smiling face of Joan Lennon, my team manager from the European’s in Soria, who is also going to be the manager of the Denmark world’s team. The first thing I said to her? “That was nasty; standard distance is hard. I think I’ll switch back to sprints!” But, second female overall (a minute behind first by the end), and an age-group win far exceeded my pre-race expectations. Looking at the names on the start list in my category alone, I would have been happy just to finish in the top four automatic qualifying spots; a podium finish overall never even crossed my radar. And, just to highlight how much tougher this new 35 – 39 age group is, the third placed overall finisher was also from this category, whilst the winner of the 30 - 34 age group (the one I’ve just been unceremoniously booted out of, despite still being 34!) was a full 10 minutes slower than me. As I told my mate Garry, getting old sucks!

Yay! Done. So incredibly done. In fact, done in!

Race done. Prizes awarded. Mist lifted. Aaaaah, there's Grafham Water!

Post-race recovery (in G & T format) in full swing by the log fire at our lovely 15th C coaching inn hotel in Buckden.

Protein recovery on board and prize giving swiftly done and dusted, I was back at the hotel room, depositing my mud on the bathroom floor and sliding into a hot, deep bath. Aaaaah. I felt physically drained for the remainder of the day…. Matt’s suggestion that we go to Ikea in Milton Keynes in the afternoon to buy some saucepans for our new induction hob was not met with enthusiasm, let’s say! The first 10k run at standard distance duathlon takes so much more out of you than the 1500m swim of a standard distance tri…. at least it does at the sedate pace I swim a 1500m at! Approaching T1, I felt like I’d already done my day’s effort after a hilly 39 minute 10k, then it dawns on you that you still have 40k of cycling and 5k more running left to do. Five days later and I have only run once since as my whole body has been so tight and stiff. Luckily I did get a really good sports massage last night to aid with the recovery…. which leads me onto my next bit of good news.

I now have a sponsor! For the rest of the 2018 season I will be supported by Patrick Ward of PDW Sports. Patrick is a former GB skier who now works in the sports industry and runs his own sports massage company. He is based in Callington but offers home treatments in North / East Cornwall and West and mid Devon (including Plymouth and Exeter) at super competitive prices, especially considering his vast array of qualifications and experience. He also does clinics at St. Mellion International Resort, so I went to see him there last night on my way back from catching up with Coach Dom in Bodmin and this morning my legs are feeling so much fresher again. Regular massage is key to maintaining good form and a healthy, injury-free body, so I am so grateful that I can now have access to free, regular treatments. With Tri Coach Cornwall looking after my overall training regime, Nigel Wilman at Honiton Physio helping me with my strength and conditioning program, and now Patrick at PDW on board to iron out all my tight and knotted muscles, I have a great support team around me to see me through to Denmark in July.

Before then though, I have another run out over the standard distance at Clumber Park on March 18^th. I am super excited about lining up alongside some of Britain’s top pro triathletes, such as Lucy Gossage, and seeing how far off I am in comparison. The plan is to race Ninja, my Specialized Shiv Elite time trial bike with my new Planet X deep rims (kindly donated by my N1 club mate, Nick Johnson) and see what difference that makes to my bike split… however, after a very hairy session on it at the Torbay Velopark in the wind this morning, getting buffeted about all over the track, I must say that if it’s forecast to be windy, I will be packing Lively into the car instead!

As always, to finish with some thank yous:

Chris Dominey, my coach, who has brought my biking up to a level whereby I am now doing the reeling in on the bike section as opposed to trying to hang on to avoid being reeled in, and who has set me a sensible plan for the past 4 months so that I haven’t over-trained and gotten tired and ill, as in all previous winters!

Nigel Wilman, physio extraordinaire.

Patrick Ward of PDW sports for offering me such a fantastic sponsorship opportunity.

My family, including my parents, Matt’s Dad and, of course, my Mattie, for their continued support and belief in me.