European Sprint Duathlon champion 2022!

Went to Bilbao with bike, double buggy, two children, toys, bedding, baby monitors, clothing, bike kit, beach kit, sparkly unicorns, the kitchen sink,  you name it. Came back with all these things and a shiny gold medal! I can hardly believe it. 

In truth, I’m not entirely sure what outcome I expected going into the European Sprint Duathlon Championships in Bilbao, or what result I would have been happy with, but it’s safe to say that the gold medal was not something I had entertained as a realistic target. Maybe I could have dared to dream I could sneak a bronze if I got lucky on the day, but to better my silver from the Europeans in 2017, when I was footloose, child-free, not sleep-deprived and knackered, my weekly training volume was around 3 times more than it is now and when recovery was actually a thing too, well, it’s just not something I would have thought achievable given my current circumstances.

-      My second child is NOT a sleeper. She is 19 months old and has never once slept through the night (save just the one random night at about 8 weeks old)

-      I never allow my sport to come before my children, so I make sure my training sessions don’t go over the hour as I just feel bad for being apart from them for any longer than that

-      My second child still breastfeeds 6 times a day, so being apart from her for long periods is not an option

These are all very much my choices and so the fact that I was able to win the gold despite not prioritising training for this event to the extent I would have done in my pre-baby days just makes this race outcome all the more special.

And the championships were sooooooo amazing. Spain really know how to put on an event and to do it slickly, professionally but also with a party atmosphere. The course was fantastic, with the runs taking you in front of the Guigenheim and even running through the iconic spider installation outside it: quite a novelty! The bike suited me perfectly as it was hilly – basically 1000ft up over the first 10k, then 1000ft down over the second 10k. It was a draft legal bike race but drafting on a hill isn’t always feasible as you find that riders are either climbers and so don’t need the benefit of a draft, or they are powerhouses for the flat and so get dropped quickly on any hill. I am most definitely a climber! I was lying in second after the first 5k run, 15 seconds off the pace. On paper, the girl I was trailing is by far a better runner than me, having recently run several sub 18 minute 5ks. I haven’t broken 19 minutes since 2016 so to be only 15 seconds adrift after the 5k run was far better than I would have predicted. I caught her early on on the bike, on the short flat section out of the city, and latched onto her wheel. We were very evenly matched on the bike, both on the flat, uphill and downhill section. At the final dead turn on the course, less than 1km from dismounting for T2, we were still together, so I knew I had to push on now to make a break as if it came down to the run, I’d be running for silver, not gold. I got a gap and a faster T2 gave me a 30 second lead heading out onto the final 2.7k run. 

Run by the river

Bike course

The hilly but stunning bike course from the fenicular

I always run well off a bike, despite having done no brick sessions in training like I used to. The jelly legged feeling initially was ghastly – I haven’t competed at a triathlon or a duathlon since 2019 so it’s a feeling I’m simply not used to! – but I trusted that it would wear off and I would soon establish a rhythm. 2.7k is not much time to hang on, even if you’re knackered, so you just have to dig in. In truth, I was hurting. I am not used to pushing my body these days. I haven’t raced multisport for 3 years and even though I do frequent parkruns and occasional trail races, I never go “all in” at them, so I mentally geared myself up to embrace the pain, knowing that I’d need to commit fully from the gun and accept that yes it will hurt, but it is a short-lived hurt compared to the everlasting rewards that come with victory. When things get tough and I find myself wanting to back off I go to my manta “no one wants this more than me” and find that helps me refocus, regroup and push on again. 

I was pretty confident I was in contention for a medal on that final run as I’d only seen about 4 or 5 females ahead of me on the dead-turns on the bike course and I knew that some of those were in much younger age groups. Crossing the line to be announced as the 35-39 category winner (6th female overall out of all age groups) was a win for me but also for my children, my husband and my parents who all support me in pursuing my sporting interests. It was extra special to share the win with my children and to hopefully inspire them, even though they were both fast asleep in their buggy when I crossed the line! They did watch, cheer, wave flags and ring cowbells to support me on the course though and they looked super cute in their #Dom-squad support crew tees I had made for them!

Blue carpet finish line feels

Dom-squad support crew

Golden girl! Podium moment

We made a holiday of the event and stayed for a full week in a lovely apartment just outside of Bilbao in Getxo, just 5 minutes from two absolutely stunning beaches. The weather was perfect, the food delicious (and cheap!), and so we were able to enjoy 5 days as a family afterwards.

 

The amazing beach in Getxo just 5 mins walk from our apartment

The iconic Guigenheim and spider that we ran under on the run

View of city from top of the bike course

I have to stress that this victory is also dedicated to my amazing physio and sponsor, Nigel Wilman of Honiton Physio. I am injury prone, always have been, but the birth of my second child absolutely obliterated my body and left me unable to walk. When I limped, wincing in pain, into Nigel’s treatment room in March 2020, a month after giving birth, still in agony with my hip semi-dislocating itself with every step, I could not have dreamed that competitive sport just over a year later would have been possible. At that time I would just have taken being able to walk pain free so I could push a buggy and enjoy time outdoors with my toddler. It is all down to Nigel’s expertise and knowledge that I found myself physically in a position to be able to compete on an international stage once again. I cannot thank him or recommend him enough.

Thank you Nigel and Honiton Physio for skillfully fixing my broken parts!

And next? Well, my body is pretty knackered but I am gearing up to go again this coming Sunday at the Thruxton Mass Attack Duathlon which is a qualifying race for the 2023 World Duathlon Championships in Ibiza. Truth be told, I am not mentally raring to race, but I figure I just need to do enough to qualify (top 4 in age group) and I don’t need to go all out and win it to achieve that goal. Then after that I am having a break from the bike for a bit as winter cycling isn’t my thing and I just want to enjoy some low-key trail races for a bit with no pressure. Then we will reassess plans in the New Year.

You can run but you can't hide...

…. And now you can’t run because you picked up Covid, most likely picked it up whilst in fact running at a race.

After trying to outrun Covid for 2 1/2 years, it's finally got me. On Saturday I did the Otter Rail and River 10k multi terrain race. I had a decent run and finished as 1^st lady by 4 full minutes. I won this race in 2012, a decade ago, in 42:11, so to be only a minute slower ten years and two babies on, and in blisteringly hot conditions this year was a real confidence boost. I was on a post-race high. Three days later, Tuesday, I awake to a throat being slashed by razor blades, a snotty nose and general achiness, and this is why….

Balls....

Covid positive. Not bad going holding out for this long to get it considering that I have a one and a three year old who only have to enter a softplay / park / similar germ-festooned environment and deem that sampling every grotty surface within the place with a good lick is just as key as sampling the slides etc. We have had almost every other bug going this past year, including the ghastly strep throat infection we suspect our three year old picked up by licking the fence surrounding the elephant enclosure at Chester Zoo... But now I can finally say I’m part of the Covid crew. I think I might have got it from the runner guy I was chasing up a single track wooded section at the race. He was continually coughing, spluttering and firing snot rockets my way, so gentlemanly to share this germs with me. It’s the only place I can think I got it as we haven’t been anywhere else in close contact with people for the past week.

 In a way it’s probably best that I get it now as at least I have time to get over it and resume a bit of training before the European duathlon champs, which are in two months time. It's probably also good to get it and finally get it out of the way as, truth be told, I have been living in partial fear of it all this time and probably the fear of getting it is worse than actually getting it. Before this struck, training was going well. I use the word “training” in the loosest possible sense as all I really do these days is shoe-horn runs and rides in whenever I get the chance. A fellow triathlon friend recently asked what plan I was following and I just had to laugh! The “get out the door whenever I can get childcare” plan is basically as methodical as it gets these days! I don’t do brick sessions, I haven’t tested my FTP since pre-baby number two and so have no idea of my numbers on the bike. My run “sessions” are the weekly parkrun in which I put in a bit of effort, but all other runs are done at an easy pace to avoid injury. I swam 20 lengths after taking my daughter swimming the other day and that was the first and only swim I have done since September 2020. To be honest, I don’t even know if I can justify writing a blog about my sporting endeavors anymore as all I seem to be able to write about is what I don’t do rather than what I do!! So, to try and focus on some positives, here goes:

 

I have got my parkrun 5k time down to 19:22 and run several sub 20 minute times now.

I won the Otter Rail and River Run 10k in a time of 43:36 – a win by 4 full minutes and only just a shade over a minute slower than my winning time from 2012 when I was a decade younger and ran 50 miles a week (as opposed to a maximum of 20 now on a very good week)

Although I haven’t tested my FTP I know by my Wattbike workouts that my bike fitness has improved from the watts I am putting out versus heart rate etc.

Apart from a brief relapse of my sciatic nerve / back problem, I have been managing injuries for a year now and been able to run fairly consistently week on week

 So these are all positives. I just hope that covid doesn’t set me back too much and I can fit a good few weeks of training in and, who knows, maybe even a brick session or two, before we head out to Spain for the champs on 17^th September.

 Thanks as ever to Nigel Wilman at Honiton Physio for keeping my injuries at bay. I see Nigel for regular maintenance sessions and I also see Laura, who works At Honiton Physio, for sports massage sessions now too. I know I am injury prone and so pre-emptive physio and being diligent with my strengthening exercises are as important as the running and biking.

Otter Rail and River pics...

Just like old times... running with former club mate, Dave, of Exmouth Harriers

Cracking out the crop top despite the Mum-tum as it was scorchio!

Winner winner - great prizes. A hamper from a local farm shop!

Bike, buggy and babes x 2 are Bilbao bound!

 So, I have unexpectedly had the opportunity able to qualify for the 2022 European Duathlon Championships. How? Let me explain. Due to Covid (doesn’t everything seem to start with that sentence these days?), very few qualifying events were able to take place for the past two years. In fact, I think only 2 of the 6 scheduled qualifying races across 2020 and 2021 actually went ahead. This leads to the dilemma of only having approximately one third of the usual number of age-groupers officially qualified. Rather than run the champs with diminished fields they decided to open up the qualification process to allow you to submit any result from any official BTF duathlon qualifying event (for either worlds or Euros) from 2019 onwards. This meant that my two qualification races in 2019 at Darley Moor (worlds) and Bedford Autodrome (Euros) were eligible to secure me a place on the 2022 GB team! It does, however, mean that I am rather race rusty and, as I type this, I have only just this week fished the bike out of its stable where it has been wintering since September last year. There is much work to be done between now and September 18^th to get me fit and race ready.

 Truth be told, I have all but lost my biking mojo. Since having children I have become twitchier than a highly caffeinated ornithologist when riding out on the roads. So many drivers are just inconsiderate, impatient blockheads who do irrational and unpredictable things in order to prevent their journey from being 10 seconds longer by allowing the few extra seconds necessary to pass a cyclist safely. I would say that 90% of my rides involve some form of near miss or “woah, WTF are you playing at?!” moment. I think I am just aware of the heightened responsibility that comes with having two small people at home relying on me to get back safely in order to care for them. My 1 year old still breastfeeds every 3-4 hours too, thereby adding a further limiting factor on how long my rides can be. Luckily I have only qualified for the sprint event so don’t need a huge amount of endurance as I feel guilty for staying out exercising for anything much over the hour these days. I know Mums who do go out for longer, indeed, I know Mums who have completed an Ironman within a year of giving birth, and good on them if that is what is right for them. It’s just that, for me, I feel that they are little for such a little time and in years to come I know I won't be looking back and pining longingly for that 60 mile club coffee ride that I didn't go on, but I would certainly regret not witnessing Emmeline take her first solo steps (which, incidentally happened today, just 2 hours prior to me typing this!), or seeing Sylvester’s smiling happy face as he braves the big slide at the park for the first time because I was on a 60 mile coffee ride. It’s a balance as it is important to take time for yourself too, but I feel that for me the balance lies in around 1 hour of child-free exercise time 6 days a week. If that means I am less competitive at the championships because my rivals are doing double or even treble the training volume that I am, sobeit. I am also willing to bet that they are getting better sleep and recovery than me too!

 So, my goal for this year is now set. This has meant a bit of refocussing in terms of my training and racing plans. I was hoping to work up to a tough, hilly trail half marathon at the end of April, but as I no longer need long, slow, hilly endurance runs but faster, shorter, flatter efforts to run a fast 5k and 2.5k at the champs, I have sacked off this idea. I will still do some off-road races up to the 10k distance, just because I enjoy them and the process has to be enjoyable at the end of the day, but I don’t need to risk pushing the mileage up as that might invite injury in, and that is the last thing I want!

 I am so lucky to have the continued support of Nigel Wilman of Honiton Physio. With both 6-weekly ‘pre-hab’ physio sessions plus by diligently doing his personalised strengthening exercises each night, I am in a relatively good place injury wise. I almost daren’t type that as it feels like foolishly tempting fate as I know that I walk a constant tight-rope where injury is concerned and there hasn’t been a year since 2012 that I have made it through an entire season uninjured, so it is something I am not complacent about. But consistency in training is key to success and the longer I can stay injury free, the stronger and fitter I naturally become, even without hitting the high-intensity sessions that are eventually needed to eek out that final 5% of top end fitness. At the moment I don’t do any form of speed work; all my efforts come in the form of hills or parkrun. This is just what works for me and the 5% gains from speed have to offset against the injury risk.

 The short-term focus, however, is to finally shake off this seemingly interminable cold-cough combo we’ve all had. I’m on day 16 of it now, my daughter is on day 18. It’s relentless. I have vacillated between adding in additional rest days to getting frustrated that they aren’t helping and adopting a ‘sod it, I’ll just do something easy to stay sane’ approach and thus prolonging the recovery process. Today’s off road run was a super steady 9m/m pace and yet my H/R was up in the 160s on the flat, so I know I’m still not right as it should not feel that hard. Another day off tomorrow…. Up until this I had been enjoying lots of lovely trail runs and a couple of races too, taking first place at the 5 mile Axmouth Challenge in February and 2^nd place at the 9 mile Grizzly Cub in March. It’s just so nice to be back racing again after 3 years of either pregnancy or pandemic enforced break. It’s great to get those pre-race nerves and post-race buzz back. That said, the Euro champs will be a whole other level to local trail races and the ultimate challenge is not the race itself but actually getting to it with the stress of flying a bike, a baby, a buggy and a toddler out to Bilbao without losing one (or multiple) of those items in the process!!! The race itself will be the fun part if we do all manage to get there!

About to finish the Axmouth Challenge. 1st lady, 3rd overall.

Grizzly Cub - top of the infamous 'stairway to heaven'

Approaching the finish if the Grizzly Cub in Seaton

Grizzly prizes, presented by running local legend Jo Pavey

Fabulous prizes, including an amazing bottle of Lyme Bay sparkling wine which we enjoyed on Mother's Day!

 

Time to stop faffing and start focussing!

 10 months since my last blog post! I think that gives you an indication of how hectic life is as a full-time Mum of two! 

When I gave birth to my second child at the end of February 2021, my body was in a mess. No, I think the word “obliterated” would be a more accurate description! I got off relatively lightly with my first pregnancy, managing to run parkruns right up to my due date, but this time things were very different. A low lying placenta picked up at the 20 week scan meant I had to stop running right there and then (October 2020). I could still swim and cycle, but pools were pretty much shut from that point onwards with lockdowns and so the wattbike it had to be. But also around this time, I started getting pelvic pains, later diagnosed as pelvic girdle pain. It got continually worse as the pregnancy progressed and in the last 8 or so weeks I couldn’t even walk without being in severe pain, let alone contemplate running. I was pretty much sofa and bed bound towards the end. For someone so active, it was a huge deal and my mood plummeted. I just wanted my baby out so I could get my body back! I gave birth 2 days before my due date but, to my utter dismay, I still couldn’t walk. I had hoped giving birth would make the pelvic pain stop, but it didn’t, it actually got worse and to the point that my hip kept giving way underneath me and made it unsafe for me to carry my newborn baby girl up and down the stairs.

 Several toys were thrown out of prams (and we're not talking about the baby’s or the toddler’s here), and then I went and saw my trusty physio, Nigel Wilman at Honiton Physio, who instantly sprung into action. When he said he could have me back running in 8 weeks I wanted to laugh in his face! How could I possibly run when I was wincing just walking the few steps from the car door to his treatment room?! But I should have had faith – Wilman the Wonder phys worked his magic as ever… and I did a hell of a lot of tedious rehab exercises. But I got there. By the end of April, I had taken my first tentative ‘Bambi on crack’ like steps back to running.

 It has been very slow, cautious progress since then. It’s been hard not to compare myself to where I was after my first pregnancy, not least because my babies were born almost exactly 2 years apart, both in February, so I have always had in the back of my mind “by June I was down to a 20 minute parkrun”, “by August I had placed 2^nd at a competitive 10k race”, “by September I had qualified for the world duathlon champs” etc etc. It was a stupid and fruitless exercise that had no meaningful relevance anyway as I was starting from a completely different place this pregnancy having not run at all for 7 months prior and being unable to even walk more than a mile for 3 months, but still my perfectionist mindset went there, berating me for my enforced inertia, my slow comeback and allowing me to become frustrated at my self-perceived lack of progress. The only thing was to avoid any targets for the remainder of the year in order to be kind to myself and to give my broken, battered post-partum body the time it needed to heal. And that is what I did.

Christmas day was my last chance to go sub 21 minutes at a parkrun in 2021. I knew I was capable of it, but illness, weather conditions, course conditions and just general family chaos and lack of time to train properly meant it hadn’t happened. I had clocked a 21:03, a 21:04, a 21:09 and a 21:10 without specifically pushing to go sub-21, just racing whoever was there on the day for positions. Christmas Day was naff weather and, to be honest, priorities change once you have kids and dragging my offspring out in the rain so I could run a sub-21 minute parkrun seemed somewhat low on the list, so we sacked it off. Then on New Year’s Day, I clocked 20:35 at a very wet, blustery Exmouth without even pushing for it, so I think the right decision and a marker set for 2022!

August 2021, Exmouth parkrun with my 6 month old in the buggy

November, Penryn Campus parkrun - New female course record

September - Henstridge airfield parkrun

July - Haldon Forest parkrun

So, now a modicum of fitness appears to have returned, it’s time to start getting more focussed for the coming year. I turn 40 in 2023 and so the qualifying races for the 2023 Euro duathlon champs, which take place this year, are a feasible target as I will move up an age group when I actually race the champs the following year (assuming I qualify). So that gives me a few solid months to get fit ahead of the qualifiers, then over a year to really up my game ready to race the vet 40s, who are a fearsome bunch… often more competitive than the 30-39s who, like me, have all been out having babies!

I have totally lost focus on my wattbike sessions, just bimbling away for 25 minutes (30 always seemed over-indulgent when I know that me taking time out to exercise involves my husband taking time out of his hectic work schedule), responding to messages on Wattsapp, flicking through facebook or watching the latest installment of the “What Boris did next…” on the news. But the couple of sessions I have done so far in 2022 have been more focussed, with my goals in mind for motivation, and, with some good tunes playing, I have suddenly found an additional 20 Watts out of nowhere. Probably still approximately 30-40 watts down on my FTP from 2019, but I have no intentions on putting myself through that hell by testing just yet.

 I also need to beef myself up a bit. Breastfeeding does something weird to my metabolism – it seems to ramp it up to crazy speeds and so, despite eating more than I have ever eaten in my life, I weigh nearly a stone less than before conceiving. My body has also changed shape and I find it harder to build muscle now, so I am on a mission to bulk up. This photo of me at a muddy trail race before Christmas this year made me realise that this gal ain’t gonna hold her own on the bike with weedy thighs like this! So I’ve been adding nut butters, chia seeds, protein powder etc to my baked oats every breakfast and have managed to gain back 4 – 5lbs the past couple of weeks and, crucially, my thighs have got a bit more tone and shape to them, so it’s going on in the right places!!

 Incidentally, this was a really cool 7.5 mile race with a 30m long slide in the middle of it, and the fact that I came home with a win made it even sweeter as I had only been running up to 5 miles and so my goal was just to finish in one piece!

So, time to focus. Faff time is over. It’s hard to fit training around looking after 2 small people full time, so I shoehorn in workouts whenever I get chance, but I am going for quality of sessions rather than volume. Recovery is also important and something that is often hard to come by when the 10 month old still wakes two to three (sometimes four) times a night and when the toddler only has to sniff a germ wafting in breeze 10 miles away and gets ill and shares it with the whole household (no covid yet, thank God, but tonsillitis, Strep throat, 7 x cold/cough combos and 2 vomitting bugs, all since September).

My other goal for this year is to get back into doing some triathlon and duathlon coaching. I hope to be able to do my BTF Level 2 coaching qualification later in the year and so I will be looking to work with a couple of people before then to keep building up my portfolio. Message me if you're interested. I have a duathlon and novice/nervous specialism, but happy to coach other distances and disciplines too.