The year in review...

I have just completed my last race of the year this last weekend and so this seemed like the ideal time to write a blog reflecting back on all my sporting endeavours in 2017. It’s going to be an enjoyable blog to write as it has been a fantastic year. The highlights of which have been:

·         Qualifying for the European Sprint Duathlon Championships by winning my age group at Clumber Park for the second consecutive year

·         Winning a silver medal in my age group on my Team GB debut at the European Duathlon Championships in Soria, Spain

·         Taking my first overall female win at a triathlon (Dorchester Dash)

·         Going on to win my target triathlon A-race of the year, The Brutal Half Iron Extreme Triathlon, in North Wales

·         Finishing as first female at all 6 of the multi-terrain races I entered this year: Weston Friendly 5 Mile, Totnes 10k, Killerton 10k, Templer 10 mile, Otterton Reindeer Run, The Scrooge.

·         Being largely on top of my injuries throughout the year, being able to piece together some consistent training and allowing me to start and finish all of the races I entered in one piece (a miracle in itself by my previous track record!)

When I read all of that back, it brings a small smile of satisfaction to my face. There have been some incredible experiences garnered along the way to achieving all the above, including some excellent bike rides with some really good friends (you know who you are, coffee buddies!); some fab training rides with the Honiton Spinners and some (almost) enjoyable sea swims with my buddy Bishy the Fishy. I participated in my first ever cycling time trial (10 miles in 26:45), and my first ever hill climb (4^th place at Chineway). There have been sportives completed with friends (The Nello, with Moira) and alone (Moor to Sea). Parkruns a-plenty have featured, including 9 new venues, in addition to relaxed training runs with my hubby. Humpteen laps of the pool have been swum, including my longest ever swim of 5k (200 lengths) at Swimathon (Christ on a bike, that felt like a slog!). I have seen improvements to my bike and swim times; my run times have actually dropped off a bit over the shorter stuff, but losing a bit of top end leg speed has been the trade-off for improving my cycling and my performance overall: something’s gotta give!

I have achieved all of the above by myself, with no assistance from any coach or even any training plans. Up until now, my training has all been done to feel and done rather spontaneously without much forward planning. If I woke up and the weather was nice, I would go out on the bike; if my legs were aching, I might have opted for an easy swim. My development as a multisport athlete has all been very organic and, to a more experienced eye, probably very naïve and amateur. It has brought me some great results, of which I am extremely proud, but I decided that I was at a point whereby I could go on playing at being a runner who dabbles in multi-sport by doing a bit of cross training on the bike and in the pool and probably still do ok because I have a pretty decent fitness level, or I could try and introduce some proper structure and triathlon focussed training to my routine and aim to take my multisport performances to the next level…. I decided upon the latter, so I recently enlisted the services of a triathlon coach.

For the past 7 weeks I have been coached by my cousin-in-law, Chris Dominey, of Tri Coach Cornwall. Not gonna lie, it has been a complete shock to my system and, at first, felt like a bit of a loss of control and freedom as I have handed over all responsibility for deciding what training I do and when to him. My previous self-coached approach was rather ad hoc, and so the jump to having extremely structured and set workouts given to me 3 weeks in advance that detail explicitly what I will be doing every day for the next 21 days has been a massive one. It has meant being much more organised regarding getting kit ready the night before and writing down the workouts in advance so I don’t forget them once I get to the pool / gym etc. Having a structure to my swim and indoor bike sessions has been great in terms of me not needing to think about what to do once I get there, which invariably led to me doing the same long aerobic swims session after session, or just sitting aimlessly on the bike for an hour and pedalling at the same intensity, or else relying on my one go-to bike workout of 1 min off, 1 min off x 30! I have been using the Watt bike at the gym for most of my indoor bike sets and – following a ghastly 20 minute all out FTP test – I am now working to power. Again, this is all new to me. Previously I would just go on feel, or RPE scales, and not pay any attention to heart rate, cadence, power etc. Previously I would do the same training all year round and just aim to maintain a high level of fitness. Chris’ approach, using the Training Peaks software, sees me go through phases of training and the workouts are tailored according to the phase (I am currently in Base 3, so starting to increase my strength and endurance with longer reps on the bike, and more tempo runs). To seasoned triathletes, this will all seem obvious, but it is all very new for me and I have to trust that I am doing enough and that the intensity is appropriate for the stage I am at in my race build-up. One thing I have definitely noticed is that since working with Chris, I am much less tired; furthermore, – and I am probably putting the curse of death on myself here – I haven’t been ill at all, whereas before I was picking up a cough or cold virus every 4 – 6 weeks or so. No doubt this is due to the sensible scheduling of the workouts, allowing for rest and recovery between hard sets, but also due to the fact that I have been doing the majority of the work at a much lesser intensity, so I am not constantly fatigued. The one thing I do find hard is the lack of flexibility to be able to just do things on a whim, such as a nice long bike ride with friends because the sun is out and they invited me, or an extra run because I just feel like it, but that is the trade off for what will hopefully bring me better performances in the qualifying races in February and March. It is also a bit of a departure for Chris, as his background is mainly in coaching long distance triathletes, so writing training plans for a duathlete is a new challenge for him… as is reining in a headstrong female athlete with a love of running who wants to race all the time! Thanks to him for his patience so far! 😉

I will have a slightly lighter week over Christmas but I can’t afford to back off too much as the qualifier is so early this year (Feb 18^th). I certainly can’t afford a 9 week long cough-cold-chest infection combo like I had at the start of this year as that hampered my training from Boxing Day right until the end of Feb. As I am also going up to the standard distance this year, which is 10k run – 40k bike – 5k run (double everything of the sprint), I need to keep my bike miles up over the winter and try and get out and ride once a week as I don’t have the luxury of waiting until spring comes to ride outside. Easier said than done with this cold snap we’ve had as I am a notorious wimp in the cold conditions and coming off on black ice is not something I can afford to do at this stage of my preparations….. or, indeed, ever.

Anyway, to finish off with a few stats, followed by a few photos, that demonstrate a bit more ably than my waffling how 2017 panned out….

RUNNING:

2017 mileage (up until 19^th Dec.): 815 miles; 107 hours of running time, 56’000ft elevation gain

5k SB: 19:10 (first run at Clumber Park duathlon, didn’t actually race any 5k only races in 2017)

10k SB: 40:15 (Ivybridge 10k)

Race performances:

Feb.: Weston Friendly 5 – 1^st lady, 3^rd overall

May: Ivybridge 10k: 3^rd lady

June: Welsh Castles Relay Stage 16, 8 mile mountain stage in Brecon Beacons: 3^rd lady

August: Totnes 10k, 1^st lady

September: Killerton 10k, 1^st lady

November: Templer 10 mile, 1^st lady

December: Otterton Reindeer Run 6 mile, 1^st lady

December: The Scrooge 7.5 mile, 1^st lady, 4^th overall

CYCLING:

2017 bike mileage: 3240 miles

Longest ride: Moor to Sea Sportive, 64 miles

10 mile T.T.: 26:45

SWIMMING:

Total swim distance: 190’000mtrs / 190k

Longest swim: 5k

2017 Swim SBs: 200m: 3:22, 400m: 7:02, 600m: 11:18, 1000m: 18:42, 1500m: 28:36

Duathlon Results:

Clumber Park Sprint: 4^th lady, 1^st age cat, 1:08:40

Soria ETU Championships Sprint: 11^th lady, 2^nd age cat, 1:15:21

Triathlon Results:

Stourhead Mega Sprint: 3^rd lady, 1:56:01

Honiton Sprint: 2^nd lady, 1:06:03

Dorchester Dash Sprint: 1^st lady, 1:14:09

Portishead Sprint: 2^nd lady, 1:24:20

The Brutal Half Extreme: 1^st lady, 7:15:15

Thank yous to:

My physio, Nigel Wilman - this has been the longest stretch I have gone uninjured since Feb 2013!
My coach, Chris, of Tri Coach Cornwall
My training buddies for their encouragement, interest, support, and friendship.
My amazing husband, Matt, without whom none of the above would have been possible.

Weston Friendly Five, February

Welsh Castles Relay, June

Totnes 10k, August

Totnes 10k

Templer 10, November

Templer 10

The Scrooge, December

Portishead Sprint Tri, August

Honiton Sprint Tri, July

Honiton Sprint

Dorchester Dash Sprint tri, July

Immortal Sprint, Stourhead, May

The Brutal, September

The Brutal

The Brutal

ETU Duathlon Champs, Soria, Spain, April

Soria

Soria

Soria

Back to the grindstone!

“Check back here in a few weeks” were my parting words from my last blog post. I’m not sure when a few weeks turned into a few months, but it clearly did, and the pain and suffering of my post-Brutal battered body is already a distant memory. I believe I also stated in that blog post that I was going to have some end of season down time… I am notoriously bad at doing this as, let’s face it, I have a few dependency issues where exercise is concerned and start to feel lazy and irritable after two days without any, but I believe I have managed to have my own version of an end of season break. It definitely isn’t the complete two weeks off that many triathletes indulge in, but I cut my training volume right back to just 7 hours a week and, crucially, the long bike rides were knocked on the head and I felt I only needed to do an hour before cutting straight to the coffee stop part! Crucially, my body does feel less tired and ready to tackle the next block of training, which starts in earnest today.

I mentioned that some changes were afoot in the Dominey camp. Well, after much deliberation, I have decided to enlist the services of a professional triathlon coach…. I didn’t need to look far as Matt’s cousin, Chris, is a professional tri coach and personal trainer, based in Cornwall, and so I am keeping it in the family and handing over the control of my training to him. Last week marked the first week of my plan but, as I was up in North Wales and wanted to take advantage of the mountains and get out and about in the hills, both running and on the bike, the rigid plan got tweaked a bit, so this week marks the start of my training regime proper. Having someone else tell me what sessions to do, when to do them, how long to do them for, at what pace, at what heart rate, at what effort level, represents a massive massive change for me. Up until now, I have always done as I pleased. I have never so much as followed a basic plan from a triathlon magazine or from a website. I haven’t even planned a week ahead. My previous method has been to wake up, see what the weather’s doing, see what I fancy doing, and do it. Yes, I made sure I included a couple of weekly swims, three or four bike rides and three or four runs, plus a modicum of S & C work in the form of yoga and core classes, but, largely, my weeks have been unstructured. This new regimented approach will take a lot of getting used to, not least because I am now accountable to someone who will instantly notice if I miss workouts, adapt them, or, more likely for me, add in extra sessions.

We are using the software Training Peaks to chart my progress. Chris uploads my workouts, I complete them, my Garmin syncs with my TP account (like it does with Strava) and Chris can instantly see all my data from the session: pace, H/R, time, distance etc. As its name suggests, this software helps Chris, as my coach, to help me to work towards crucial fitness peaks that will coincide with all my targeted races. Again, a completely new way of working for me as my previous approach has been to just maintain a high level of fitness all year round and then taper off before any big races, but otherwise do a similar training volume week in, week out, all year round. I have no doubt that the prioritising and peaking method will bring results; mostly, if it helps to curb my tendencies to over-train and prevents me from feeling so tired all the time and picking up the myriad of illnesses I seem to attract so frequently, then it will already be worth it. If it brings me more medals at next year’s championship races, then it will be super worth it!

We have already pencilled in a handful of target races, with the early season duathlon qualifiers kicking things off in February and March. I have already qualified for next year’s European Sprint Duathlon Championships courtesy of my silver medal in Soria last year, so a trip to Ibiza in October is a scheduled highlight of 2018. The World Duathlon Championships also take place in Europe next year, in Denmark in July, so they are a target too. However, as I seem to be more of an endurance athlete than a speed queen, we have decided to target the standard distance (10k run – 40k bike – 5k run) for the worlds, before dropping down to the sprint for the Euros. Nothing is a given though, first I have to qualify and that will be a tough ask in itself. With the qualifying race being in February, the weather could very easily be naff, and so I have a back-up race pencilled in just in case. Most of my training between now and then will be heavily weighted towards the cycling, to get this slightly weaker of the two disciplines up to scratch. My previous approach to cycling over the winter months has been to do a couple of spin classes a week and to get out on the bike whenever the weather is favourable. My new plan focusses more on quality turbo sessions (good job I still have several episodes of my Downton Abbey boxset to work through….), with twice weekly social rides and the occasional visit to the velopark in Torbay for some tempo rides.

We had discussed the viability of me moving up to Half Iron triathlons next year, as I coped well with the distance at the Brutal, but with the timings of the world dus in July and the Euros in October and the very different training patterns needed for them compared to half iron tri training, we felt that sticking to sprint triathlons next year and keeping the main focus on the duathlon is the way forward. This will also allow me another year to really work on improving my swim in order to be more competitive when I really do want to give the 70.3s a good crack.

All of the above comes with the caveat that we are trying for a mini-Dominey, and so the aforementioned plans may well be thrown out the window at any point… however, we have been trying for a mini-Dominey for the past two and a half years without success, so we are just carrying on with our lives as normal, making plans as normal, and if we have to scrap them, well, we won’t mind one iota. I simply cannot put everything on hold as, quite frankly, I will go mad without a focus to distract me. And to all the people who have commented – albeit in good faith – that I should maybe just cut back on the exercise as that might help, sadly, it won’t. Believe me, if it would, I would give it all up in a heartbeat. But even my GP says to keep training and keep my competitive focus as it helps me to cope with the huge range of emotions that comes with desperately wanting to do the most natural thing in the world to a woman, to become a Mum, and being unable to.

Yesterday I enjoyed a run out at one of my favourite local races, the Templer Ten. It's always been a happy hunting ground for me, having run it 4 times and won it 4 times, so I was thrilled to take a win there again yesterday. Despite not having trained beyond 6 miles all year, my body held together well and I managed the 10 miles without too much of a sufferfest in the closing stages. It's good to know that the running legs are still there, lurking beneath the chunky cycling thighs!! But that marks the end of the autumn fun and now it is head down and back to the training grindstone this week, then next week we are heading out to Madeira for a little spot of relaxation and winter sun, where my training focus will shift to swimming and running, before returning to a week of baseline testing sessions (including running and swimming time trials and the dreaded FTP test on the Watt bike). Using the data from these, Chris will then plan my next block of training. Working so precisely to heart rate and training zones is not something I have ever done before, I have always just gone on feel and rarely even worn a heart-rate monitor, but I trust him and his approach explicitly and, to be honest, it’s rather nice being told what to do for a change; it takes the pressure off me making my own decisions!

River crossing at around the 7 mile point of the Templer Ten.

Templer Ten - 1st lady for the fourth time in a row of running it. My lucky race!

In the meantime, enjoy a few piccies of my recent trip to stunning Snowdonia, where a few fell runs and bike rides were enjoyed, in amongst some prosecco swilling with Moira!

50 miler on the lovely flat, open, empty roads of Angelsey.

35 miler along the Straights estuary trail to Caernarfon.

This road (and accompanying view) featured on the Brutal bike course. Nice to be able to go back and ride along it at a sedate pace and take in the stunning view!

The Brutal: my perfect race?

6am, dawn rising. An eerie mist and stillness lies over the lake. Normally I am in a state of pre-race panic about now, but this time I felt unusually zen! I had had a terrific night's sleep in the Victoria Hotel, right next to the race start, I awoke 10 minutes before the alarm at 5:10am feeling fresh and raring to go. Soria and the ETU duathlons champs were my A race for the early part of the season, but once they were over, all focus shifted to this. I had been building towards it all summer, albeit it whilst enduring an unusually high (even by my standards) collection of coughs, colds and D & V bugs which kept punctuating my training schedule, but I guess nobody ever has a hiccup-free race build up.  

I never look forward to the swim, but as I stood lakeside in the stillness of a crisp autumnal morning, I wasn't dreading it, which can only be positive! The start got delayed by 30 mins because the swim marker buoys had moved off course during the night and needed to be replaced; this was not ideal when you have timed your pre-race fuelling and toilet visits to perfection for a 7am start, but we all took advantage of the extra time for a quick cup of tea to keep us warm (provided by an aid station lake side - the catering on this event was simply unrivaled!) Due to waterlogging on the ground near the lake, we were stood in cold standing water for those 30 minutes and so my feet were already freezing cold and going numb by the time the swim even got underway! I had hoped for a swim time of around 40 mins, so exiting on 42 mins was down on what I'd have liked, but all the swim times were slow and I only lost 4 mins in the water on the lead ladies (I can often lose this over a 750m sprint tri, so 4 mins over 1900m wasn't too shabby!) and I came out in 6th place, so maybe it wasn't too disastrous and everyone was slower due to the cold. (9 degrees!!)

Neoprene Queen! Let no bit of flesh remain exposed to the cold!

Onto the bike and it took me a while to get settled and into a rhythm due to my feet being totally numb by this point. However, the forecast had drastically improved from the torrential downpours of the previous day and, taking extra time in T1 to put on a dry base-layer and cycling jersey, socks and gloves, meant that the rest of me was a nice temperature. I learnt many lessons from my flirtation with hypothermia at the Slateman last year, chief of these was that 3h30 mins on a bike if you are soaking wet and freezing cold is absolute torture. Above all, I wanted to enjoy the race and if that meant sacrificing a minute in T1 to ensure I was warm, then that's what I'd do. As it was, I had a comparatively swift T1 as I managed to overtake 3 ladies in transition and so went out onto the bike course as the 3rd lady.

The bike was a two lap route (29 miles each lap) around the Snowdon massif, heading out from Llanberis to Llanrug, up and over a cheeky climb (not the longest on the course, but the steepest in terms of gradient), down into Waunfawr, along down to Beddgelert, before starting the massive climb up through Pen-yr-Gwryd (Pen-Yr-Horrid, as I renamed it on lap two into a headwind!), to the top of the pass, then the long, fast descent down into Llanberis. Repeat. Seeing my friends Anne and Jim, and Anne's Mum, Jeanette, halfway up the long climb at Pen-Yr-Gwyrd on lap one was a massive boost. It was so lovely of them to come all that way to support me. They have become some of my best friends since joining N1 and it was great to have them there on the day to spur me on. I had already overtaken one of the ladies in front of me at this point and at the top of the pass a spectator told me that the first lady was only a minute in front. This possibly spurred me on to descend faster than my usual cautionary self would allow and I tried to get aero and make gains down the steep, windy, stone-wall lined descent: good job my Dad wasn't here to watch this part - he'd have been having a nervous breakdown. He has a 125cc motorbike he pootles about on and he never goes over 30mph on it or he says he gets a nose bleed! When I tell him I hit speeds of up to 40mph on my bike, he flips a lid!

I caught the first lady about 5 miles into the second lap, as we crested the hill out of Llanrug. There was a stunning view off to our right of Angelsey, which I pointed out to her, but she seemed more interested in trying to up her pace and come straight back past me. I figured if I'd reeled her in on lap 1, I must be cycling at a faster average pace, so I put the hammer down and put some daylight between us. Cautious that there was still a hell of a long way to go I kept telling myself: Do not get caught up in racing; if she comes back at you again, let her go and you can get her on the run. This isn't a sprint tri, it's your first time at the distance. Luckily for me, she didn't comeback and by the end of the bike leg I'd put 6 minutes into her and found myself with a decent lead starting the run.

Cycling through Waunfawr on both laps was very special. This is where I used to keep my horse, Arrie, (or Moonlight Dancer, to use her official papers name) when I lived in North Wales. Back then I was no where near as fit and healthy as I am now. I didn't really take great care of myself at university and used to struggle massively with the cold Welsh weather, particularly during its harsh winters. Rewind 10 years to 2007, and I was in fact in a hospital bed in Ysbtwy Gwynedd, having been buckerooed off Arrie for the humpteenth time, partially dislocating my shoulder, then being given cocodamol for the pain, and subsequently discovering I am in fact allergic to codeine and spending the next couple of weeks in hospital as they tried to stabilise my drastically low blood pressure. The whole episode left me weakened for some time and I would feel the cold even worse than usual. At this time, if you had told anyone who knew me that in ten years time I would be back here, swimming in a freezing cold lake, cycling around the mountain and then running up it, whilst being competitive at it, they would have laughed you out of town. I couldn't even ride when it was wet and cold as my body just shook with cold and then shut down. I was feeble. That thought wasn't lost on me as I cycled past the lane that led down to Arrie's stable. Two different decades, two very different lives. It made me a little bit proud to think how far I have come.

Matt, who was crewing for me, had the very thoughtful idea of putting some hand/feet warmers inside my run shoes before I got to T2, as he knew my feet were still numb and like blocks of ice after I told him as much when I flashed through race HQ at the end of the first bike lap. What a treat to put on warm run shoes; my feet were toastie in no time. A quick diversion into some bushes for a little wee I'd been needing for the past 20 miles on the bike and then I got into my running. The first 2 miles around Llyn Padarn are completely flat and allowed me to establish a rhythm. Matt ran these first two miles with me and was his usually calm self when I said, 'This stupid race ID bracelet is too tight on my wrist'. 'It's ok, you're doing ok'. 'I'm not doing ok: the circulation in my right hand is being severed'. (I do have a tendency towards the dramatics when I'm racing!). The remainder of the lake lap is undulating on wooded trails. I have run this loop countless times when living in Llanberis and knew every boulder underfoot that I skipped across.

Ok, 5.5 miles around the lake done, now just to finish it off with a little jaunt up and down Snowdon. I lose track of how many times I have run up Snowdon: in excess of 30. I used to venture up there regularly for a post-work, pre-dinner run when living with Moira in Llanberis. I have also done the Snowdon race 3 times. My Snowdon race PB being 1h 36mins.. it would take me a little longer today, 34 minutes longer.

As this was by a long way the longest endurance event I've done, I was worried about fuelling enough. I suffer quite badly from dramatic blood sugar drops and if this happens I feel faint and weak, so I was desperate to avoid this happening - so much so I probably ate too much (the whole bike section just felt like one continuous picnic!). Luckily I seem to have a robust constitution as I ate a whole manner of gels and isotonic products that I had never even tried in training (I know - rule number one right? But I simply cannot bear the things and it's only the competitivity of race day that will force me to consume them). Fortunately I didn't have any stomach or digestive problems at all.

As I set off up Snowdon, I had 2 young boys try to race me up the initial steep road section. 'Very impressive', I said, 'but you haven't just biked 58 miles around this mountain twice before this have you, ay'?! They soon ran out of steam!! I then saw Matt a quarter of the way up and he told me I had about 10 minutes on the next lady. I walked all the steeper sections and tried to bank time and run the more runable bits. At the steepest point, three quarters of the way up as you round Clogwyn and begin the hike up the steep scree slope, you are doubled over into the mountain, a Chinese lady appears out of the mist, sat down at the side of the path having a breather, she looked at me wheezing on past and said aghast, 'Oh my God! You must stop, take a rest. Come, sit down'. I replied, 'Rest! I can't rest, I'm in a race! ... I mean, I know it doesn't look like it, I'm going so slow right now'. It was quite funny and a welcome distraction from my calves which were screaming at this point and desperate for level terrain. I was very glad to get to the top, where a surprise was waiting for me in the shape of Jim Ephraums! He had summited via the Pyg track and was waiting for me at the summit cairn: I gave him the hugest hug before he spun me around and shouted after me, 'Go on! Down you go! You've got a mountain to descend'! The descent I had longed for was possibly even harder on the legs than going up. 6 days post-race and my quads were still burning and aching! Having gravity on my side helped though and I used it to assist me back down to the finish line, where Anne and her Mum, and also three of my best friends from my uni days were waiting for me. And, of course, my long-suffering husband, Matt.

This is a very low key event. There is no announcement, no fan fare as you cross the line, just the race director waiting to give you your medal and also the trophy for coming first lady (a piece of Welsh slate... I'd run over enough of the stuff, very fitting). In fact, 'informal and friendly' are the two words which most sum up this event. It is all very relaxed and supportive - you are allowed help in transitions from your crew; your crew can run with you or meet you at any point on the route, you rack your bike wherever you want, you take as long as you want in the transition tent, helping yourself to the huge array of food and drink on offer. Everyone who takes part in this event is on a journey together and the cameraderie is immense. 

Thank you Mr. Massage-man for making my legs better so that I could walk away from the event and not need to be carried!

Reflecting on the whole experience - because it was so more than just a race - afterwards... It was epic. I loved every minute of it from start to finish. I normally go through a bad patch in a race where the negative gremlins invade - Why am I doing this? Did I seriously pay for this? Where's the finish? Can it come now please? Ow, my legs ache - etc, but I can honestly say I did not experience any form of "bonking" or any negativity at all and just loved the whole thing. I'm not sure it's ever possible to have the perfect race, but, for me, the Brutal comes very close. The scenery, the setting, the support, the sporting performance I managed to pull out from god-only-knows where, all made it incredible. I finished in a time of 7h15mins (my optimistic target was 7 hours and my realistic target was 7h 30 mins, so slap bang in the middle!). In the end, I won the women's race by 24 minutes... I could have stopped and had a cheeky cuppa with Jim at the summit if I'd known this! Whatever the future holds for me in triathlon, this race will take some beating.

It must be highlighted that I did the shortest of 4 available distances on offer over the weekend. I did a half iron, which took me 7h15m of gruelling effort... there was also a full iron, a double iron and a triple iron, all starting together at 7:30am on Saturday. But whilst I was done by 3pm Saturday afternoon, the triple athletes were still going on Sunday.... on Monday.... and into Tuesday morning. They swam 11.8km, biked 350 miles and ran 78 miles (including Snowdon), continuously, just taking cat naps on some camp beds set up in the transition marquee here and there. The defining moment for me was on the Saturday night, when I went to bed aching, tired, but satisfied with a hard day's effort, turned out the lights in the bedroom in my friend's cottage in Llanberis that overlooks Snowdon, and saw the glowing lights of head torches making their way up the mountain at 10pm: the full Brutal iron athletes. The following night (Sunday night), the same thing again, but this time the double iron athletes, then on Monday night, the triple. Mind boggling just what the human body is capable of, if its owner also has the strength of mind and will to accompany it.

One week later, today in fact, and I had all but forgotten I had a place in the Killerton 10k. Possibly not the wisest post-Brutal recovery remedy, racing an off-road 10k with nearly 900ft of climb, but I had a free entry as I work at Killerton, so decided to just go and see.... and I managed to win it! My legs felt great. I have been working with Nigel Wilman at Honiton Physiotherapy and he has put me on a strength program for my weak lower left leg that is clearly working: no way would I have come off a 14.7 mile (with 3500ft of climb) run and been injury free enough to race again a week later prior to this. But now, it is definitely time for a rest. 2017, you've been truly amazing, bringing me podium places at every triathlon and duathlon I have entered, a silver medal in the European championships, and a win at my debut over the half iron distance. But that's a wrap for this year. Planning for 2018 is in progress now and in a few weeks I should be in a position to announce a few exciting developments that are taking shape. Check back here in a few weeks!

Thank yous to:
Nigel Wilman for getting my unruly left leg race ready.
Moira Tait and Sarah Thornton for the superb post-race hospitality (and prosecco!).
Glynis and Stef Kelly for the kind use of their lovely cosy cottage in the Brecon Beacons for a week of post-race relaxation.
Anne, Garry and Liz for lending me essential race kit (wetsuit, booties, waterproofs, etc).
Moira, Anne, Jim, Jeanette, Sian, Nigel for on course support and photography.
My friends at N1 Tri and Honiton Spinners for the company and motivation, especially on the long training rides.
My Mattie: for being there, not just during the race but throughout the whole build up to it. For not minding that we couldn't spend another Sunday together as I had to go out and do a 60 mile cycle instead. For being the best, most supportive husband ever..... even if your shamefully abysmal and frankly comic attempts to pronounce Welsh place names constitute grounds for divorce! I love you. x

Let's be brutal about this....

On Saturday I did the Moor to Sea cycle sportive. It was my last big training ride before I take on my greatest endurance challenge to date: The Brutal Half Iron triathlon in Llanberis in two weeks’ time. With its hilly Dartmoor course (5700ft climb over 64 miles), it was designed to be a confidence boosting ride to show me that I am in shape and ready to race. In reality, it did anything but! It left me feeling knackered, woefully under-trained, ill-prepared and with the anguished feeling that the Brutal is going to live up to its name in every sense! True, I was up half the night before it with dreadful stomach cramps (some sort of delightful double wammy of a gippy tum combined with women’s troubles… I won’t elaborate…), but even so, after breakfasting, caffeining up, immodiuming up and paracetamoling up, I had hoped to feel better than I did. It took me 4h11m riding time (4h13m including the two toilet stops I was forced to make) and I was relieved not to have to run off it like I will on race day but to go straight home and stuff my face to refuel. This also confirmed another worry I have for race day: I have issues with fuelling on the go. In truth, I just don’t like doing it. I enjoy going out for a long ride or run, emptying the tank, and powering home on the thoughts of all the lovely foods I will be able to indulge in at my leisure once I return as a reward. I like to enjoy my food and eat foods that I enjoy. Real foods. I have a big problem with gels – just the thought of them and their slimy texture makes me gag – and there are only so many home-made natural fruit and nut snacks you can consume before their fibrous content comes back to haunt you…. During my marathon running days, I developed my own refuelling system, which centred largely around Kendal Mint Cake and Benedicts’ Bitter Mints. I plan for these to feature on Brutal race day, but they are very high in sugar content and not much else, and I know that for an endurance event of 7 hours plus I will need to take on sustainable carbs, electrolytes and some protein to ensure I don’t book myself on a one-way ticket to Bonkesville.

The swim, at 1.9km, will be the longest I have competed in in open water, but I have swum the distance in the sea several times this summer and so, strangely for me with my aquatic demons, this is the discipline I am least worried about! It will be cold, but we are allowed to wear neoprene gloves, hats and boots, so that will help (thanks Anne for the loan!). The bike, make no mistake, will be tough. With over 6000ft of height gain over the 58 miles, it will be hard even in perfect conditions... the chances of this occuring, being Snowdonia, slim. If it rains, it won't be much fun, but I have ridden the distance in training, I can do it. The run, hmm, different matter entirely.... 

That small spec is me on a training swim at Budleigh!

Thanks to my sea swim buddy, Rich, who has pushed me on, put up with my whining ("Aargh! A jelly, can we head in now?", "No Ellie, we've only been in 10 minutes". "Ok, just one more buoy then." "No, 3 more buoys, then we can turn back". "Humph".)

The run is 14.8 miles which is made up of a 5.3 mile circuit of Llyn Padarn (flat for the first 2 miles, then undulating), then a 9.5 mile ascent and descent of Mount Snowdon via the Llanberis Path. My Snowdon summit PB is 59 minutes; my Snowdon ascent and descent combined PB is 1h36mins. These were both run on tapered, fresh legs. After 1900m of swimming and 58 miles of hilly cycling, I think the combined run efforts of lake plus mountain will take me around 3 hours…. if all goes well. The truth is, I am grossly lacking in run training. The last time I ran 14.8 miles in one go was in 2012…. I have been injured on and off ever since then and unable to get myself beyond 10 miles. Why, then, I hear you ask, would I sign up for a half-iron distance triathlon (in which the run is in fact over the standard half-iron distance of 13.1 miles), knowing this? Good question. Well, first of all, because I miss the long stuff. I always enjoyed the endurance events and, when not injured, the marathon was comparatively my strongest distance. I like the challenge of hitting big training miles and the satisfaction of increasing the volume and watching your times and fitness levels improve. Running 5k and competing in sprint triathlons is ok, but I can churn them out without any real commitment to training, based on my general decent level of fitness, and so I wanted more focus for my 2017 season. So, why not a flat half iron? Again, good question, simple answer: my achillies hates the flat. Pounding out a flat half marathon at the Exeter Half in 2013 was what started my long battle with lower left leg injuries. The same slap-slap-slap stride on the hard, unforgiving tarmac plays havoc with what is an over-use injury. In 2015, when my achillies was at its worst, I decided to run the Snowdon Race anyway as we were on our honeymoon and I just wanted to do it. Not recommended for someone with achillies problems, but I ran it, and the following day I awoke pain free and not stiff for the first time in months; it was as if the eccentric loading enforced on it from running on my toes up a steep gradient for a prolonged period had released all the gnarly knots and scar tissue and freed it up. My injury behaves better when running off road and on hills, so, why not make my half iron debut on a course which features a mountain?! There is also the matter that I just love Snowdonia. It is my heartland, having had the privilege to live there for 9 years, the last of those spent living in Llanberis itself. It was here that I took up running, in 2010, starting out as a fell runner and then branching out onto the roads and running my first marathon on Anglesey in September 2010. (I came 2^nd in 3h19). I did the Slateman Savage double triathlon last year and, whilst I might have spent much of the second of the two days cursing the weather as I flirted with hypothermia in a hail-storm descending the Llanberis Pass, I just loved the added challenge and the rugged beauty of the terrain. Triathlons that take place in towns and cities tend to be on flat, congested, built-up, multi-lap routes and, frankly, are totally anodyne and boring. Anyone with a modicum of fitness who can swim and ride a bike can then shuffle around a flat run course at 16m/m pace and complete one of these; not everyone can run up Snowdon. I like the fact that you are competing against everything that mother nature has to throw at you, in addition to the other triathletes and yourself. It adds to the challenge and makes completing events such as these that bit more satisfying. I have also come to realise that I don’t like sharing my space too much! Completing Bushy parkrun alongside 1200 other runners last month confirmed this to me! In fact, being in London for five days and sharing my space on the tube confirmed this to me! When I compete, I enjoy the solitude. When I train, I also enjoy the solitude – aside from the relaxed pace, social coffee ride, which is a highlight of my week – I just prefer to train alone. Alone, I am not influenced by the pace of others; I do my own thing to suit my needs. I am more than capable of motivating myself and get stressed by the presence of other athletes and supporters around me rather than deriving energy and motivation from them. When I am going through a mid-race bad patch, grimacing, swearing, having a personal word with myself, I don’t want anyone around me to see or hear it thank you very much! When the going gets tough, being able to gawp at stunning scenery definitely helps me to refocus and take stock: how privileged am I to be competing in such a wild, beautiful, untouched place? That is a big motivator for me and another reason why I gravitate towards these tough, remote, iconic events.

So, The Brutal. The clue is in the name I guess. It won’t be easy. But, as I mentioned in my previous blog post, the half-iron in the shortest of four races taking place on the same day as part of a Brutal Festival of triathlon racing. A half iron, a full iron, a double iron and, new for 2017, a triple iron. This latter, with its 11.4km swim, 352 mile bike and 78 mile run is just mind boggling to me. That anyone should even consider wanting to put their body through that is cause to warrant a mental health assessment alone! We all start together, at 7am on the Saturday. All being well, I should be done around 2pm or soon after. They will still be swimming. When I am finished, making my way (slowly) back to my hotel for a warm shower, they will still be swimming. When I am enjoying a fortifying evening meal and bottle of prosecco with Matt, Moira and Sarah that evening, they will just about be embarking on the 352 mile bike section (when we lived in St. Austell, Cornwall, and my Gran lived 15 miles south of Leeds, that journey was 355 miles… it took us all day in the car). On the Monday, when I am leaving North Wales and driving down to the cottage in the Brecon Beacons we have kindly been offered for the week by my friend Glynis Kelly, they will be running. 78 miles of running, including an ascent of Snowdon. They will hardly have slept, just 20 minute cat naps here and there. I don’t know if I feel admiration, amazement or animosity towards these almost alien people who not only choose but PAY! to subject their poor bodies to such an ordeal. I am certainly curious to go down to the event village on the Sunday afternoon, after they have already been going for 30 hours, and see what sort of state they are in. I just cannot comprehend ever wanting to put my body through such torture: with my shoddy immune system and inability to cope with the cold, it would, in all likelihood, kill me!

So yes, I know a half iron – even over this terrain – is an entirely achievable distance for many people, and certainly for me given that my summer’s training has been building towards it. The problem is, I don’t just want to complete, I want to compete. I don’t just want to shuffle round on the run; I like to blast out of T2 and get to work on utilising what should be (if fit and uninjured… ) my strongest discipline, offsetting my swim (my worst discipline… in case I never mentioned this?!) and working my way through the field. I need to remember that this isn’t the usual 5k run of a sprint tri. It is 14.8 miles up a mountain and will require sensible pacing and, crucially, sensible fuelling. Can I do it? Will I crash and burn? Well, if I do, I will have a foil survival blanket, light, whistle, mobile phone, waterproof jacket and trousers (thanks Garry!), water, food, blister plasters, hat, gloves, sun-cream, kitchen sink etc. in my mandatory kit bag with me, so I should at least hold out until rescue.*

Savage woman last year, Brutal woman this? If determination has anything to do with the outcome, then hopefully yes!

*Wonder if Prince William still flies the mountain rescue helicopter out of RAF Valley?.... Must make some pre-emptive enquiries.