Team Win.

So, my final hit out of the 2016 tri season happened last weekend at the Roadford Relays. A team event with my club, N1, seemed like the ideal way to end what has, on reflection, been a pretty decent first proper season as a triathlete. The only issue: I was organising all our club’s team entries – 6 teams in total; 24 triathletes – which was infinitely more stressful than the actual taking part bit! I’m not sure how my suggesting that “it might be a nice idea to do a relays event as a club” turned into me becoming organiser-in-chief of said event, but, moral of the story, don’t suggest things if you don’t want to be the person responsible for making it happen! Actually, it wasn’t all that bad, but, inevitably, the stress levels rose as the day drew closer and members started to casually mention that they “don’t have a wetsuit” and they “have never swum in open water before”, or they “have a broken bike”, or, the worst one, coming the night before the event, “tore a calf muscle out running, can’t compete”. Thank goodness for the team spirit of the whole club and the willingness of a couple of individuals to go around twice, ensuring that we could close the 6 teams we entered.

Waiting for Anne in the change over zone, ready to receive the timing chip and start my leg.

 From a personal point of view, I actually had a great race. I did the third leg (of 4) for our ladies’ team, with Catherine on first, then Anne second, both getting us off to a strong start, then me, then Helen bringing it home. My swim, miraculously, felt really good. As I didn’t start first, in the mass start, when I got in I had clear water – no bumping and barging and jostling for position. This meant I was relaxed from the off and able to establish a good rhythm straight away. To my delight, I actually started to pick slower swimmers off: something that never usually happens to me (quite the inverse actually!). Turning around the final buoy, things were perhaps going a little bit too well: I felt strong, I only had about 100m left to swim, so I put my head down, powered on, and didn’t look up to sight again for a long while. When I did, to my dismay, I was no longer on a line for the buoy and the exit, but heading for the mud bank off to my right! I had managed to veer almost 90° off course: what a numpty! Lost the best part of a minute correcting my line, but emerged from the water feeling positive, only to be knocked back my husband’s dulcet tones enquiring as to where I thought I was headed – the Isle of Wight? – as I ran past him and up towards transition.

Here I come!

Emerging from the water after what felt like the most comfortable open water swim I've experienced to date!

Now you see the sun, soon you won't! Variable weather conditions at Roadford!

The bike course suited me well: hilly! It was on the edge of Dartmoor, so not a flat bit in sight (all apart from the short and sweet section along the dam wall). I attacked all the hills and the 13km route seemed to fly by in no time. The weather had been superb all week – unseasonably hot for late September / early October – but not so today. Downpours on a Biblical scale punctuated short, sunny spells, and, as I came back over the dam wall, a hail shower. Yes – another hail shower, timed just for me to hit it on the most exposed part of the course. At one stage I was actually struggling to see, the hail was driving right into my eyes. But now, whenever I race, I just see it that I survived two days of far worse at Slateman, so yes, I can cope with anything else that mother nature has to throw at me! I call it my ‘post-slatemanist slant’; it’s akin to a postmodernist slant whereby you arrive at a serene state of acceptance as a result of having experienced the extremes. I believe it has only served to toughen me up!

The run, well, the run course was weird. Very narrow, very twisty, very slippery in places, very congested. I’m not fully running fit at the moment, but that didn’t really matter on this course, as my pace was dictated by the terrain and not by my fitness levels. I was pleased to post what I think was the fastest female run split of the day and to give Helen, our last leg athlete, a decent enough gap over a talented, former pro, triathlete from a sponsored triathlon team. Helen held her off and N1 ladies claimed the top female spot overall. The sponsored team, who finished three minutes behind us, had two really quality athletes in their midst, but they didn’t have the consistency that we did: we didn’t have a weak link. Yes, my swim was the slowest (surprise surprise), but my run split made up for it; Cath’s bike was amazing, Anne’s swim was as speedy as ever, and Helen was consistent across the three: between the four of us, our overall times were very even. What a great way to end what has been a great year with the club. Even the extreme rain showers could not dampen the spirits and the cheering of us N1 gang. Joining this club was the best decision I made as far as progressing with triathlon is concerned.

Team Win / Team N1: Helen, Catherine, me and Anne.

 So, I’m now entering the triathlon off-season. There are a couple of Autumn duathlons that have peeked my interest, so they will be a focus over the coming weeks, and maybe a few of my favourite Autumn trail runs. Other than that, the main goal for the winter is to improve my swim…. Much in the same way that my main goal for winter 2015 was to improve my swim, and that never really happened. But this time, I am committed! My cycling buddy, and Roadford team mate, Anne, has very kindly offered to give me some pointers: she’s a swimming teacher in her day job and spends 20+ hours a week identifying and correcting people’s faults: lucky her; I’m now letting her loose on mine! I think, for me, the swim is going to be a very slow burner, but I’m not planning my Ironman debut for a while yet, so there’s plenty of time to get me up to scratch before shit gets serious and I need to start swimming crazy 3.8km distances.

Plans for 2017? Well, the European Duathlon championships that I qualified for back in March are now confirmed: they take place in Soria, near Madrid, at the end of April. That’s the main goal for the Spring. After that? We’ll see…. got a few ideas in mind…

The clue's in the name...

Time to reflect on my penultimate triathlon outing of the year: the Cotswold Lake 62 End of Season Standard Triathlon. The clue’s in the name: yes, it’s the end of season, but also, crucially, it’s in Lake 62…. I should have taken note of this, it would prove a vital clue in the conundrum of finding the venue….

Last year, I took part in my first ever open water triathlon at the Cotswold Sprint tri. The course and organisation proved ideal for my first dip in open water territory. The lake was beautiful – pristine even. It was crystal clear, very shallow in places, and very still on the surface, being well sheltered. The bike course was on wide, open, straight and flat roads around the southern part of the Cotswolds, near Cirencester. The run was 2 laps of a gravel path around the lake, with transition being lake side. There was a café for spectators and great support on the run route, which passed through a giant adventure play area and high ropes course. I loved it, so I was eager to go back to the same venue and have a bash at a standard distance event there this year. … only, it wasn’t the same venue. As I said, the clue is in the name. The tri I did last year was in lake 32…. but I had slept since then, so couldn’t remember this. So when this one said ‘lake 62’, I naturally assumed that it was the same lake as, surely, all triathlons in the Cotswold Water Park must take place in this same idyllic lake? Not so.

Thankfully, I had got a cracking deal on a Travelodge (yes, the same one we stayed in last year; yes, the one about which I said ‘never again’ after they tried to fine us £100 for parking overnight… in the overnight parking spaces reserved for Travelodge guests…), but it was a steal at £55 for two people for two nights, and I love a bargain. Besides, it’s near the venue, they accept Cannondale unquestioningly - which a lot of the more upmarket hotels are reluctant to do - it’s a handy location, and ‘with new refurbished rooms and comfy new king sized beds, to stay anywhere else you’d need rocks in your head’, so here we were again at the delightful and delectable Travelodge Delamere M4 Eastbound. By ‘we’ I mean the Mothership and I; Matt had once again put Exeter City before my triathloning, and he and his Dad had headed north to Crewe for the weekend to watch Exeter lose…. again. (I did try to mention that he had pinned his flag to the wrong mast as his wife would never let him down so badly, but he wasn't in the mood to listen to this reasoning....)

Staying two nights would prove to be a Godsend as it allowed us to go and rekkie the venue and the course on the Saturday. The weather on Saturday was foul: pouring rain all day until late afternoon. When we got to the area, there were signs that a triathlon was taking place at that moment: bikers with tri-belts and numbers on them. First moment of panic: have I got the right day? Check the blurb – def September 11^th, not 10^th… this must be a different event as it’s taking place in a different lake. Mildly confused, ask the organisers – who appear to be the same organisers of the tri I have signed up for. Saturday is a relay event; the standard event is indeed on the Sunday, in lake 62. Thank goodness for the pre-raceday rekkie, or I’d have rocked up race morning to the wrong ruddy lake!

It's not just me being stupid: there are literally hundreds of these lakes, finding the precise one isn't as easy as you'd think in this maze!

Race morning, alarm sounds at a highly acceptable 7am and the weather is sunny! Yay! Total contrast to yesterday. For the first time this year, the weather Gods are on my side. After 5 triathlons in rainy, damp, overcast conditions, I am due some sun and warmth! Driving to the venue, there is a low-lying mist hovering eerily over the fields. There is a crispness to the air: that reminiscent parting handshake as summer gives way to autumn. I am feeling very calm and looking forward to the race ahead and to seeing what I can do on what will hopefully be a fast course.

Four of my fellow N1 teamies are also competing, and Dennis and Liz Elliott have set their alarm for the crack of dawn and have driven up from Sidmouth to come and support us all: a lovely, much appreciated act, but one which does put the pressure on me somewhat not to be shit! At 9:30am, in wave 3, I enter the water for the deep water start. This is only my second time swimming the full 1500m distance open water, and my goal is to improve upon my truly abysmal 32-minute clocking from Dambuster back in June. The hooter goes and we’re off. There are roughly 60-70 people in my wave and a throng of swimmers from wave 2 coming around to join us on their second of the two 750m loops. I get bumped and barged a bit, try to find some feet, don’t really manage it, so look for a bit of personal space to try and establish my own rhythm. I am soon made aware that this lake has a LOT of weeds in it when a huge, green, slimy piece of sub-aquatic flora makes itself at home on my forehead and partially blocks the view from my mask. This is a far cry from my beloved, weed-free lake 32!

On the start line, mentally girding my proverbial loins ahead of the challenge to come...

Finally arrive at the first turn and try to take as tight a line around the buoy as possible, opting for a few breaststroke strides to allow me to tuck in and get a good sighting for the next buoy. I am aware that I am quite gaspy today and struggling for breath, then I realise that in my pre-race faffing, I forgot to have my inhaler. No bloody wonder! Too late now, must press on. As I complete the first 750m lap, I give a wave to my Mum, and to Liz and Dennis, who are watching on the bank, just to reassure them that, no, I haven’t drowned, I’m just taking bloody ages.

No, despite what it looks like, I'm not drowning: I was signalling to my Mum after the first lap so she'd know which one was me!

On to lap two… desperately wishing that this was just a sprint distance and I could get out now.

Looking back at the next turn, I am monumentally disheartened to see only a handful of white swim caps behind me. It doesn’t take a mathematical genius to calculate that, of the 60 ish starters, for me to be roughly 55^th slowest, things are going really bad at this point. No matter. Press on. Finally find some clear water on the second lap and get into a better rhythm and start to up the pace a bit. Am as relieved as Father Christmas on Boxing Day that the ordeal is over and I can get out of the weed-infested water.

The exit was slippery as hell (those ruddy weeds again!): I'd defy anyone to make this look graceful!

T1 is the usual uncoordinated mess (never seems to get any slicker with practice). I manage to wheeze at my Mum on the exit that I forgot my inhaler – thankfully she takes the hint to find it and has it ready for me later when I come to start the run. It takes me a long time on the bike to get my breathing back under control, so I’m not able to blast out of T1 like I usually do. About half a mile in, a guy passes me, but doesn’t really pull away. A mile later, I pass him. One mile further on, he comes back at me again, etc etc. We soon establish that we are in fact an annoyingly similar pace and we basically cat and mouse like this for the entire two lap, 41km course: trying not to get caught in each other’s draft zone and get busted by the bike marshalls. Halfway round the second lap, as I pass him for about the 11^th time, he shouts, ‘Here she is!’, I offer, ‘Ellie, by the way.’ ‘Matt’, he offers back (oh, good, a name I will be able to remember). We then exchange a few words on each time of passing each other and arrange to have a glass of water (this is tri!) at the finish to toast each other. Unfortunately, once we headed out of T2 on the run, I never saw him again. If, by the small remote chance you are reading this: sorry Matt, I did look out for you. Good job on completing your first ever triathlon!

The guy to my left is my bike-course buddy, Matt: we cycled the whole 41k at roughly the same pace!

I loved the bike course: it suited me to a tee. It was lumpier than the Cotswold Sprint course, but more undulating than hilly. There was nothing technical on it either, so hardly any need to brake. At the same time, it offered you nothing: next to no opportunities to use gravity to your advantage; the downhill sections were gradual, so you still had to work. I love to graft on the bike, so it was ideal for me. The best bit was that we got to cycle past Kemble Airfield, where about 20 decommissioned large jet liners sit, like an aircraft graveyard full of metallic carcasses slowly rusting and decaying: the inner-plane geek in me loved it. Great place for a photographer to positon themselves too….

Big planes and fast bikes: two of my fave things in one shot!

I was slightly worried that I didn’t seem to be catching many people on lap one. I passed a few guys, but only about one or two ladies. Normally, due to my crappy swim, I start to pick people off on the bike very early on. This made me worried that they were all so far ahead, I had no chance of catching them. Come lap two though, all that changed, and suddenly I seemed to be catching and passing people every few meters, and working my way up through the field.

Into T2, having thoroughly enjoyed the bike and having felt that I pushed it hard, but having no way of knowing what position I was in. I was later pleased to see I'd averaged bang on 20mph for the undulating 41k: the bike fit I had done the previous week with Tribe Cycle Solutions already bringing dividends! I blasted off on the run, keen to use my strongest discipline to make up some ground. That said, I hadn’t actually run for over two weeks prior to this after tweeking my achillies at a parkrun back in August, so I wanted to give it time to heal: just have to trust that my legs know their job well enough by now. The run was 6 laps around the lake. My biggest worry was that I’d lose count, so Mum, bless her, in amongst taking photos, proffering me my inhaler and some flapjack squares, was also ticking off the laps for me in a notebook! The course was very boggy in places, due to the previous day's heavy rain and hundreds of people trudging up the same lines every lap. My Nike Pegasus are quite grippy though, so I was moving well through the field. No way of knowing whether the other athletes you’re passing are on lap 1, 2, 3, whatever. No way of knowing if I’m 30 seconds behind the female in front of me or 30 minutes: just have to keep pushing the whole way, as you only know when you cross the line, so you don’t want to miss out on a position by a few seconds, knowing you had more to give. Leave nothing out there. There is a purity and honesty to this style of racing which suits the masochist in me: no one to hide behind; it’s all down to you and your capacity to hurt yourself. Fortunately (or unfortunately?) for me, my 'hurt' threshold appears to be quite high!

2h30m20s of hard graft later: it's over!

Due to the different start times, all the other N1 members finished before me, so they were all there to greet me as I crossed the line: a lovely feeling. Team solidarity, sharing special moments with like-minded people, that’s what being part of a club is all about. Ollie, one of our younger members, had had a brilliant race, as had Anne, so we were hopeful they might have won their categories. In fact, all of us had performed well, with no mechanical glitches – always a worry on the bike section! We stayed for the prize-giving, hoping to come away with an odd category win. The first prize to be awarded was the third female overall…. In a time of 2 hours 30 minutes…. Ellie Dominey of N1 Tri Club. Flippin’ heck! I might have hoped on the outside chance of a category win, but not a top three over the standard distance. Genuinely gobsmacked, but obviously also thrilled in equal measure. After being the 30th female out of the water, I went on to post the 3rd fastest female bike split (the winner and second posting the fastest two), and the fastest female run. I also found out I had won my category, by almost half an hour, but it was only one prize per competitor: no grumbles about that. Ollie and Anne indeed won their categories, and Ollie was a fine 5^th overall. A Great day for the club with 3 out of 5 of us coming away with some trinkets.

Team N1.

A handshake....

And some goodies. Post-race prosecco: it's why we put ourselves through it, n'est-ce pas?

Mixed feelings afterwards. Yes, I had podiumed, but I was a full 5 minutes behind the 2^nd female and a whopping 15 minutes behind the winner: both of whom had much faster swims than me. My swim time, 31:20, was a marginal improvement on my Dambuster swim, but I can comfortably do 29 minutes for 1500m on a steady swim in the pool, so why am I slower in open water, when a wetsuit is meant to help with buoyancy and thus speed you up? Very frustrating. After a full year now of being with N1 and diligently attending the club swim sessions twice a week, I am swimming no faster now than I was this time last year. Dennis almost choked on his Chester Slice (no bacon butties: another failing on lake 62’s part), when I mentioned the word ‘duathlon’, but when I replace my weakest discipline with a second go at my strongest discipline, it’s hard to see how that isn’t a better combination for me. I certainly have a lot of swim demons to overcome before I will ever be able to access that still elusive, and still much coveted, top podium place in a triathlon event.

Tomorrow, 17^th September, I would have been out competing in Cozumel, Mexico, at the ITU Standard Distance Triathlon championships. As it goes, I have made the right decision not to go and I will instead watch the races from the comfort of my sofa. 2017, when they are to be staged in Rotterdam? Maybe… we’ll see. But, next up, we have the Roadford Relays, with six N1 Tri Club teams (24 people) taking part, over a super-sprint 400m-12.5km-3.5km course, it should be a great day out and a fun way to end what, on reflection, has not been a bad first season as a triathlete. Looking back on my events below, I have many reasons to feel proud and smile… if we gloss over the swim!!

February: Taunton Deane Long Course Pool Aquathlon (1000m / 10km): 3rd lady in 1:00:45.

March: Clumber Park Sprint Duathlon, inc. ETU Sprint championships qualifier (5km / 20km / 2.5km): 6th lady, 1st age cat. in 1:08:23, qualified in number one spot for 2017 ETU Sprint champs

May: Slateman Savage double triathlon weekend. (Day 1: 400m lake swim / 20km bike / 6km run; Day 2: 1000m lake swim / 52km bike / 12km run): 3rd Savage lady in combined time of 4:54:08

June: South Hams Sprint Tri (750m sea swim / 20km bike / 5km run): 3rd lady, 2nd age cat. in 1:28:44

June: Dambuster Standard distance Tri, Rutland Water (including ITU world triathlon championships qualifier): 32nd lady, 10th age cat in 2:35:40, qualified for 2016 ITU world standard distance championships via roll down place, in Cozumel, Mexico.

July: Honiton Sprint tri (400m pool swim / 21km bike / 5km run): 2nd lady, 1st age cat. in 1:07:03

September: Cotswold End of Season Standard Tri (1500m lake swim / 41km bike / 10k run): 3rd lady, 1st age cat, in 2:30:20.

Done in for Devon...

As it’s now the end of July, summer is well on its way to being over. In some ways, it has felt long, as I started my tri season early on, in May, and crammed in five events by July 3rd, so in that respect it feels like the end of the season already. On the other hand, the record heatwave summer that was mooted back at the start of the year has not really     materialised (save one hot week in mid-July), so in some ways it feels as though I’m still waiting for summer to start! One thing’s for sure, my body is pretty knackered and is ready for its end of season break. 

This has been my first proper season as a triathlete. Last year I dabbled in a couple of pool based sprint events and managed my first open water tri at the back end of the season. 2016 marked the first year of targeting some key events, training towards them over the winter, and managing to execute them without having to pull out through injury. This latter point feels like my biggest achievement of the year, as for the previous 3 years, since February 2013, I have been on an endless 6 month injury cycle. Maybe it’s true what they told me when I took up triathlon – it does make you stronger and less injury prone? Or maybe it’s simply because I am not constantly pounding my legs with the running, but strengthening them on the bike and getting the cardio crossover benefits from the cycling and the swimming? I am only running between 15 and 20 miles a week, but with the fitness from the other sports, this has been enough to produce some decent enough running performances this year. Running highlights have been:

Run Exe 5k, April: 3rd lady in 18:28 (my third fastest 5k ever, and my fastest since 2013).
Exmouth Land and Sand 5k: 1st lady and 1st overall and new course record (both male and female) in 20:21.
Ottery 10k, May: 1st lady in 38:25 on a hilly course.
Erme Valley Relays, 2.5 mile: 3rd fastest female leg in 15:02 (a course PB by 23 seconds).

Run Exe Summer 5k, April. 18:28.

Exmouth Land and Sand Run

Exmouth Land and Sand Run - pushing on to ditch the guy behind me to win the race outright!

On the back of these results I was approached by the Devon County Athletics Association team manager, Dave Phillips, and asked to represent Devon on a team for the South-West inter-counties 10k road championships, this year held at the Frome 10k. I was thrilled. The last time I ran for Devon on the roads was in February 2013 at the Plymouth Hoe 10 mile, and that was the race in which I tore my calf and my injury battle started. I definitely had some demons to bury!

My plan was to taper off the cycling in the week leading up to Frome (held on 17th July). Heavy cycling thighs are not conducive to fast running! I had been feeling very run down ever since Slateman (May 21st/22nd). In hindsight, I didn’t fully appreciate the demands that a double event in freezing, wet conditions would place on my body and so I didn’t give myself the necessary recovery time afterwards. The result was that I experienced a never-ending string of coughs and colds, starting a week after the event, that lasted a good 6 weeks. I would be just about shifting a cold, then I would have another event booked in, do it, and be back at square one again. After doing the Dambuster on a cold, I was in a worse state than ever. It’s only really been these last couple of weeks that I have finally started to feel like my old self again. My resting pulse rate had been up around 58-60bpm (usual for me is 48-50), so this was a sure sign I was run down, knackered and that my body was crying out for a rest. My split times in the pool plummeted (another sign) and running suddenly felt like a much greater effort to achieve slower results. I lost my mojo for training, particularly for anything that put me out of my comfort zone, such as long CSS efforts in the pool, sea swimming, long bike rides. All signs. I can see them now. I didn’t at the time. I thought I had lost some fitness, was becoming lazy and obviously needed to train harder. Classic mistake. 

By the time Frome 10k came around, I was not exactly at the peak of my fitness. We travelled up to Shepton Mallet on the Saturday as Matt’s Aunt and Uncle live there, so they kindly let us stay with them overnight. Not wanting to go into detail, but I spent most of Saturday back and forth to the loo. At first I thought it was maybe nerves for the race the next day, but I was actually feeling pretty chilled about it and calmer than usual: if there’s one thing triathlon has done for my pre-race nerves it’s taught me that running only events are nothing to flap about! You turn up, in your kit, ready to run. You need trainers, shorts, vest, which you should be wearing. No stress about remembering a list an arm long of other kit items, or of making sure the bike arrives safely and mechanically intact. Triathlon has made running seem so simple! The next morning, I was still making friends with the toilet and was a bit worried. It also happened to be the first really hot day of the year: hot and humid. Oh well, nothing to be done, just have to do my best. 

Pre-race team Devon photo.

The first 5k went by fine. This section was pretty flat and I am used to running this distance now. I went over the chip timing mat in 19:32. Then the hard bit started. The second half of Frome 10k was just non-stop hills! There was a one mile uphill stretch from miles 3-4 that seemed to go on and on and on. Then a small downhill section, before more undulations, and then a half mile slog up a very steep hill to the finish. I think I must have been low on electrolytes by the end, due to the aforementioned toilet visits and sweating more than usual in the heat, as I really ‘hit that wall’. I was lying in 3rd place in the ladies race at halfway and was the second counter for the Devon ladies’ team, but that soon changed. I let not one, not two, but three ladies come past me in the last couple of miles. I finished 6th lady and 5th for Devon: that was the one consolation, that all the ladies who came past were my teamies, so at least it meant that with 5 out of the top 6 being Devon runners, we had easily secured the team prize! So, individually not my greatest performance. My pre-race time prediction had been 38:00 – 38:45: rather optimistic, given that I actually trailed in in 40:23! However, it was hot, and hilly, and I had had the shits for two days running! ;-)

The final hill at Frome 10k. I am now down into 6th female, bringing up the rear of this trio of Devon teamies!

Looking back on my three appearances in the Devon vest, I am beginning to question that it’s not the luckiest attire for me. The first cap, I tore my calf and limped home at Plymouth Hoe 10; the second outing, at the Inter-counties cross country, I missed the start and had to play catch up from the otherside of the field, and the third occasion, well, see above! If bad luck comes in threes, my next appearance for Devon should be truly scintillating!!!

Since Dambuster, I have taken part in just one other triathlon, and that was the Honiton Sprint tri. What a joy to have a triathlon on my doorstep, with the bike course being on the roads I train on and know like the back of my hand, and with the swim being in the pool in which I train. And what a joy to come out of the water feeling warm for the first time this year! 

I was still feeling tired going into this, but it was a low-key local event and so I figured I'd just use it for training. Maybe that mindset helped me to relax, as I had a pretty decent swim (7:36 for 400m, holding some back for the bike and the run). The bike went ok, apart from getting held up behind a car on the windy, narrow lanes down through Buckerell village, and the run felt good, but it came in well short of 5k (2.75 miles). On a sprint tri, I need the run to be over rather than under distance ideally, to give me more ground to make up time on the speedy swimmers and bikers. I finished in the position I expected to: 2nd female and 1st in my age category, behind talented local triathlete Kerri-Ann, who is an amazing swimmer.

Out on the 21km bike leg on the old A30, near Fenny Bridges.

Return leg of the out-and-back bike course.

Approaching the finish line at Honiton tri: my 5th tri of the season, all of them in grey, wet, miserable weather!

But one thing Honiton tri highlighted is that I definitely need a break: I woke up the next day with yet another sodding cold! I had thought to try and push on to the end of the season and then take a couple of weeks off, but I am not sure I can wait that long! I have been on a heavy training schedule since January, with just a couple of lighter weeks in amongst, and so I think that I have gone past the point of reaping any benefits from just the odd rest day: I need a full rest week! Fortunately I am about to get that as we are going to Scotland and Islay for a week on 3rd August. This holiday was originally scheduled around running the Islay Half Marathon, but my latest plan is to be sensible and do no running or cycling and just have a couple of easy swims to keep the body loose. 

Targets wise, I just have one more triathlon booked in this year and that is the end of season Cotswold Olympic distance tri on 11th September. I will not be taking up my place on the GB squad for the world champs in Mexico. Some people who don't know my situation may think me mad to pass up such an opportunity - and yes, when I watch it on telly come September thinking 'I could have been there', I may think myself mad too - but believe me when I say it is the right decision for me, and I have made peace with it. Hopefully there will be other chances to make the team.... and I hear next year's world champs are in the less exotic, rather handier location of Rotterdam! So I can now afford to take a whole week off in Scotland, then come back and put in a couple of good training weeks before tapering off for the Cotswolds. And then, well, maybe then I’ll treat my poor battered, tired old bones to a decent length break…. I can hear my husband laughing as I type this…. but the good intentions are there!!

Damn Dambuster busted my damn backside!

Earlier this year, when I was planning my 2016 triathlon season, the Dambuster Olympic (standard) distance triathlon at Rutland Water on 18^th June was pencilled in as my ‘A’ race. It was a qualifying race for the age-group world triathlon championships which are to be held in Cozumel, Mexico, in September this year. All the other races, chiefly the Slateman double, were to be used as training races building towards this one. I have to remind myself that prior to this year, I had only competed in triathlons for one season and only one of my three races last year had an open water swim. They were all sprint distance too, so it wasn’t exactly ideal that my first bash at a standard distance race was at the worlds qualifier! When I sat down with Dennis and Liz (Elliot) at the end of last year and planned my line of attack for 2016, the one qualification race they said was best to avoid was the Dambuster as it notoriously attracts a strong field due to its location, setting and superb bike course. What race did I end up opting for? Yes, the Dambuster! Not because I ignored their advice, and not because I was arrogant enough to think that I could still qualify here, but mainly because it was the only race that fitted in with my schedule. The other two qualification races were earlier in the season and clashed with Slateman; also, I needed time to build up towards the hilly 42km bike course and so needed more cycling miles in my legs. So Dambuster it had to be!

This was 2015, then came 2016 and with it talk of zika virus running rife in Central and South America. Suddenly the Olympic Games in Rio had a cloud cast over them and suddenly I am thinking that destination Mexico isn’t the attractive prospect it once was either. The zika issue is complicated and many people will just say, ‘It’s not dangerous, it’s a lot of hype over nothing, don’t worry about it’. And yes, I agree, and I am not some massive hypochondriac that is scared to travel anywhere with tropical diseases – I am well-travelled and not usually fazed by such things. I don’t want to talk about my personal health issues here on a public blog, but just to say that, for me personally, the zika virus has reason to make me question whether the benefits of going to compete in Cozumel outweigh the risks involved in doing so.

So, here I am, two weeks out from the Dambuster and of the mind-set that even if I qualify, I likely won’t take up the place. The age-group qualification system is complicated, and one of the many processes you have to go through is to pre-declare your intention to qualify by registering your interest with the BTF and paying a processing fee of £10. Even if you finish first in your age group, –  indeed, even if you win the race outright at a qualifying event – if you have not registered and paid this £10, you cannot be selected for the GB team. It seems bizarre as it can mean that a weaker team is often selected as a result, but that’s just the way it’s done. I was so adamant that even if I qualified, I wouldn’t take up the place, that I almost didn’t bother to register and pay the fee, but Matt persuaded me that for just a tenner, I would be daft not to and I would buy myself some time to make a proper decision if I did qualify. It did mean, however, that I went into the race less motivated than I would have been, had I been desperate to qualify, like I was at the Clumber Park Duathlon.

And so to race day. The race was the day after my birthday – bad scheduling! – and so I spent the majority of my birthday traversing the UK on various over-crowded motorways. A stop at the Gloucester Farm Services for a proper cup of coffee was pretty much the highlight! I wasn’t feeling all that energized and up for this one. Aside from the qualifying/not taking up place issue, I had been struggling with a string of coughs and colds since Slateman in May. June also comes with the added bonus of being hayfever season. I had just about shifted one cold, then did the South Hams tri and it came back again with a vengeance. As a result, my training volume had had to drop off and my fitness levels had taken a nose-dive. I wasn’t hitting my usual times on my hill reps when running, and my swimming had suffered tremendously. A CSS timed swim one week before Dambuster saw me post a time of 7:24 for 400m: slower than the 7:15s I usually bash out with ease as part of a 4 x 400m intervals set. I was feeling constantly tired, had had to have a day off sick from work for the first time since I’ve been in this job, and basically I knew that what my body needed was a mid-season break, not to be heading into my targeted ‘A’ race feeling physically tired and mentally drained.

On the drive up in the car my nose was constantly running. I tried to tell myself it was hayfever, conveniently ignoring the fact that we were sealed in, windows shut, and air-con on. Saturday morning, race day, alarm goes at 5am and yes, it’s confirmed, I have another sodding cold. I’m totally bunged up, feeling groggy, extremely low on energy and have zero enthusiasm for getting out of bed and going to swim 1500m in a freezing cold lake, nevermind the 42k of cycling and 10k of running that was to follow. There’s only so much that excessive amounts of nasal decongestant spray and coffee can do for you when you’re in this sorry state!

The women’s wave was the last wave to go off, at 7:40am, but all competitors had to be racked before the first wave at 6am. This led to a lot of standing around, getting cold and wishing I could just get on with the thing and get it over with and finally celebrate my birthday! It was the largest mass swim start I have experienced yet, with 150 females all lined up together. The first buoy came very soon, about 100m into the swim, and so it was obvious from watching all the male waves go off that the swiftest and most direct line was by starting on the far right hand-side. The advice is that if you don’t like the washing machine effect, either start at the back, or start on the far edge of the line and take a longer route. No, I’m not the best swimmer, but I am ridiculously competitive and so there was no way I was going to swim any farther than I had to, so I started on the far right, about 3 rows back. We hit the first buoy en masse and it was total carnage. I lost count of the amount of elbows and feet I had pummel me in the face. Two or three people tried to swim over the top of me; it was just horrid! I was glad when we rounded that buoy and the field started to thin out and I could find some clear water, start to establish my own rhythm, and get my breathing back under control.

At 1500m this was the longest openwater swim I have done to date, and it seemed to go on and on and on. What I found though was the longer it went on, the stronger and smoother I felt, and in the latter part of the swim I started to pick people off. That said, I was very relieved to round the final buoy and turn for the exit! Swim time: 32:00. Earlier in the year I would have expected 29 – 30 minutes, but, like I said, I haven’t been well for a month or so and this was a pretty accurate reflection of where my swim had dropped off to!

Women's wave mass start at Rutland Water.

Charge! To the first buoy.

Here it comes: the creature from the black lagoon!

A smile of relief that the swim is done!

The usual faff with wetsuit / numb hands from freezing cold lake combo. 

Onto the bike and I knew I had a lot of places to make up (later found out I was the 102^nd woman out of the water – shockingly bad!). We had driven part of the bike course the day before and the race organiser’s description of ‘hilly but not technical; suits a strong biker’ proved to be spot on. There was barely any flat ground to be found, but the hills were long, straight and sweeping and I found I didn’t need to hit the brakes once. It really suited me as I am strong on hills, but a Jessie on technical descents, and these descents didn’t bother me as you could see what was coming. The route was mainly along A-roads, which would have been near empty when the first elite male wave went off at 6am, but were getting busier by the time we hit them at 8:15am, but they were wide enough and, apart from one congested village, I didn’t need to adjust my speed for traffic. It was, however, a very windy day, and although the course was effectively a large rectangle, it seemed that whichever direction we turned into, it felt like a headwind! I knew I was making up ground as I was picking off rider after rider and nobody came past me, but I was acutely aware that that was because there were only about 50 ladies left behind me after the swim and most of those would be the slightly less athletic ones, so that wasn’t really an indicator of me having a good bike, more an indicator of how atrocious my swim was!

Into T2 after a bike split of 1h19, averaging just under 20mph for a hilly course. I didn’t know how this compared to the other women out front, but as an indicator, I knew that when my friend Lucy Commander rode this exact same course as part of the Dambuster Duathlon, in which she qualified for the GB age-group duathlon team, she posted a bike split of….. 1h19! So that was at least a sign that I’d had a fairly decent spin.

Help! Which way to the run out?! (2 hours of hanging around before my wave start and I didn't think to check this, doh!)

Off on the run, which was a flat out-and-back 10k along the lakeside path and out over the dam, from whence the race derives its name. The route is a big curve and so, when you turn at the halfway point, you can see the finish across the lake and it looks so tantalisingly close, and yet you know it is actually 5km away! I felt comfortable on the first half and arrived at the halfway turn bang on 20 minutes. My plan was to lift the pace on the return stretch, but I turned and suddenly realised why I’d felt so comfortable: I’d had a tail wind on the outward leg, and now had a stiff headwind, with nowhere to shelter from it on the exposed dam. My pace dropped off slightly and I was starting to get very low on energy, having to dig really deep into my reserves in the last couple of K. My main motivator was to finish and then I could have my well over-due birthday celebrations and prosecco!! My 10k run split of 40:30 was the 5^th fastest female run of the day. Not enough though to make up for the 10 minutes I lost on the swim and when I went to get my print out of my finish time and position I was both shocked and disheartened to see I’d come 32^nd female overall and 10^th in my age-cat. This is the lowest I have ever placed at any form of race, and it was a bit of a leveller as to where I am at when faced with quality competition. As an indicator of the exceptionally high standard at this race, there wasn’t a hybrid bike in sight, nobody was cycling in their running shoes, and my poor Cannondale was pretty much the cheapest bike on the rack! It again made me question whether there is any point in me even doing tris whilst I am losing so much time on the swim. I certainly had written off Mexico qualification, as I needed top 4 (definitely not 10^th!) in my age group to secure auto-qualification.

Just caught this Jersey age-grouper in the last 200m of the run!

Happy to finish this one.

Mind you, this was before I'd seen the results and realised I'd come 32nd, so this smile soon faded!

The one bonus of finishing so far down the pecking order was that there was no hanging around post-race for prize giving! I’d had enough; I was cold, wet, full of lurgy, and I knew that there was an exceptionally large bath tub waiting for me back at our hotel room! Post-bath, it felt like I’d been up for so long it should be dinner time, but in reality it was still only midday! We spent the afternoon exploring Melton Mowbray. No pork pies were consumed, but a very large (and very early!) meal was enjoyed… and yes, it did include prosecco!

Hello megga tub! My husband has a habit of choosing good hotels!

Hellz to the yes! Let the belated birthday celebrations commence!

After 3 nights in Rutland we went on to Stratford-on-Avon for 3 nights and saw 2 productions at the RSC and made the use of my free staff entry by visiting multiple N.T. properties, indulging in the odd cappuccino and scone along the way! After that we had a further 3 nights in Birmingham and we had tickets for all three days of the British Athletics Championships. A great itinerary, but unfortunately I spent most of the holiday ill: turns out that doing a triathlon on a cold doesn’t actually speed up the healing process, who’d’a thought?!

Pre-show drinks by the river outside the RSC in Stratford.

Ready to watch Dr. Faustus - but feeling knackered and full of cold, as you can no doubt see!

At the British Athletics Championships in Birmingham.

Halfway through the holiday I checked my emails and was flabbergasted to receive an email from British Triathlon to say I’d been given one of 6 discretionary places for the GB team for the world triathlon championships in Mexico. I had totally written this possibility off, finishing so far down the pecking order, but it turns out that as the Dambuster was by far the toughest selection race on offer, due to the high quality field, they decided to allocate all of those 6 discretionary places to participants at this event, so I just snuck in through a rapidly closing backdoor!

Am I going to Mexico? Jury’s still out on that one. I am very near to making a decision though, so will save that announcement for my next blog!

Not finding my sea legs in the South Hams

I had my friend Vikki to thank for my alarm going off at 5:15am on Sunday morning as I had taken a last minute place off her for the South Hams sprint tri, as she was going away with work. As it was (fairly) local and wouldn’t involve over-night accommodation, I decided to squeeze it in as a confidence booster before what was originally planned as my ‘A’ race of the season: the Dambuster next week. (For various reasons, it’s been demoted in value, but that’s for another post after the event!) Mainly, I just wanted to get back out there and enjoy a triathlon again, after feeling supremely cold, wet and miserable at the Slateman and considering never doing one again!

It was a stressful day on several counts. First of all, my supporter in chief, aka, my husband, had cricket, so couldn’t accompany me. My second wave supporters, aka, the parental units, were therefore drafted in. Whilst my Dad loves watching me compete, he isn’t a fan of early starts, and so he decided that we’d have more than enough time if we left at 6:15am to get to the venue in time for the close of registration at 7:30am. I thought even 6am was pushing it, and I was right! Once you get off the A38, the roads that lead to the South Hams are rural, and slow! I was getting increasingly agitated as the clock struck 7am and we weren’t even at Totnes yet! I then realised I’d forgotten to transfer my energy snacks from my car to my parents. I get blood sugar dips and so for me, going from breakfast at 5:30am to finishing the race four hours later is too long to go without food! The only thing we had in the car was a banana. Now, anyone who knows me well will know my thoughts on these. I had a dilemma: risk crashing into the proverbial wall half way through the event if I had nothing, or somehow force this vile substance down my throat and, chiefly, somehow keep it down. Pinching my nose, squealing, singing to myself, and punching the car seat, I opted for the latter. One banana consumed: possibly my greatest achievement of the entire day!

We pull into the carpark with 3 minutes to spare before registration closes. There is a substantial queue for registration and I join the back of it. It’s a slow moving queue. 7:40am and I’ve advanced 2 places. I’m in the first wave and due to swim at 8am. My kit is still in the car, I’ve not yet got my number and timing chip, and I don’t even know where the car is as I dived out to join the queue. Stress levels rising. I knew 6:15am was too late.

Finally, I see my Dad sauntering over. I shout instructions at him to go and get all my kit, including the bike, out of the car. I would have preferred to do this myself and left him queuing, but the officials need to check your face against your BTF race licence photo, so I have to stay. 5 minutes later, Dad and Mum appear with my kit and my bike. No helmet. Where’s my helmet? Dad realises he’s left it on the roof of the car. Off he goes back to get it. I double check to make sure my Dad has reattached my front wheel correctly. No, he hasn’t, it’s on the wrong way round! Remove the wheel, reattach it. Yay, I’m at the front of the queue. Ellie Dominey. What’dya mean, I’m not on the list? I was on the start wave list sent out via email? I took a fairly late entry off Vikki Thompson, but the change was processed in time. Can you check again please? Phew, they have found me.

Ok, now to attach these stickers to my helmet and bike, attach my emergency tool kit to the saddle, and attach the race number to the number belt. Gaaaah, can’t make a hole in the number. Too fiddley. For God’s sakes. Mother, bless her, steps in, and sets to work on making holes. I realise that as it’s now 7:50am and there’s only 10 minutes to go, my time is better served getting into my wetsuit. Have I gained weight? It feels tighter. Why is it so tight? As for a warm up, ha!, no time. Will warm up as I go. A risky strategy as, with my calves, I like to warm up and stretch first before getting into the cold water. Realise I need the loo – haven’t been since I left home. Now have wetsuit on and queue for loos is about 12-15 deep. Sod it. Eeeeeeew. Yes, I did. Before even getting in the water. Figure it will flush through during the swim and I’ll be clean on exit. Never said tri was pretty.

Beach start at Blackpool Sands. Sea looks calm but had a large off-shore swell.

I am the one near the back, probably!

Walk down to the beach, 2 minutes to get in, splash your face, acclimatise, then back onto the beach for the mass beach start. Water feels very cold – was hoping it would have warmed up more by now. The sea looked calm enough from the shore, but once we got out there was a very large swell. It didn’t take me long before I actually started to feel a bit sick with all the ups and downs! Ridiculous. Didn’t realise I’d need to take Sealegs or Stugeron before competing! There were 2 waves – wave 1 for swimmers with a 750m time of 15 minutes or faster, wave 2 for 15 mins +. At the Cotswold tri last year, I did exactly 15 minutes, so I opted for wave 1, thinking I’d rather draft quicker swimmers than lead out and pathfind for the slower ones. I did realise though, that this would put me as one of the last to emerge from the water and warned my parents not to be alarmed if they were waiting longer than they might think reasonable for me! Still, I had a shocker of a swim even by my already poor standards. I tried to draft a guy early on and get on his hip, but he was going too fast, I couldn’t hang onto him. At the first turn, I realised I wasn’t last, but definitely in the last 9/10^ths! You know you’re going really bad when a guy pulls up alongside you doing breaststroke! Nope, for me, triathlon swims are definitely to be endured, not enjoyed. 2 massive gob-fulls of the English Channel and 19 whole minutes later, I finally emerge from the sea, like some bedraggled, washed up porpoise, and start running up the beach to make up some lost ground. ‘You’re 18^th woman’, my Dad shouts at me, ‘What happened? We thought you must have drowned’.  Luckily for him, I was too out of breath to produce an equally sarcastic retort.

The long, tiring run up the shingle beach to T1.

Get off, you swine.

T1. Not great. Never is. There is an art to wetsuit removal, and I have most certainly not mastered it. But, T1 time 1:51, sub 2 minutes is getting better. Off on the bike, the first mile is up a 16% hill. Chance to warm up and start making my way through the field. Climbing, I am in my element, picking off lots of riders. The descent down the otherside was a little bit dicey due to recent rain making the surface slippery. Three people would come off by the end of the morning, one being a more serious ambulance job, so I did my usual cautious thing of feathering the brakes the whole way down. Onto Slapton sands and there is a headwind, chance to get on the tri bars, start upping the power and working my way up the placings. I lose track of how many women I’ve overtaken, but, at the turnaround of the out-and-back course, I see about 6 or 7 women coming back the other way in front of me. I get a couple more of them on the return leg and pull into T2 in 5^th position in the ladies race after a 45 minute bike split – this was to be the 3^rd fastest female bike split of the day.

Cresting the top of the first hill.

And coming back down it at the very end: 3 people came off on this corner, it was steep, sharp and slippery - all the 'sssssss'!!

The organisers changed the run route on race morning. Concerned with crossing over the main road as they did last year to head up the valley, they decide to create an intricate and convolute 4 lap route around the event car park. It involved hurdling a wooden fence twice on every lap, and running up a steep, sandy and slippery sea defence wall four times too. It was rutted underfoot and very twisty and didn’t allow me to utilise my best discipline to its full effect as you just couldn’t establish a rhythm. That said, it was the same for everybody, and I did manage the fastest female run split, so I guess we all found the going hard. 22 minutes for a short 5k is far from fast, but it was decent enough given the course and allowed me to claw my way up to a podium position by the finish, coming in as 3^rd lady overall and 2^nd in my age category. I wouldn’t have expected this halfway through the swim, I would just have been happy to finish without regurgitating all the sea water I swallowed. There is a danger here I could focus on the negatives again - yes, I had a shit swim, but I loved the bike route and made the best I could of the run, given the course wasn't all that runable! I did ok.

The strange 5k run route around the Blackpool Sands beach car park!

Lots of snaking about around fencing - rather confusing!

More stress then came as I headed back to transition to collect my things to find my wetsuit missing. As boxes have been banned in transition by the BTF this year, it tends to lead to belongings getting strewn everywhere, run over by bikes, kicked along by runners, generally trampled into the grit and dirt. I’m not a fan of this new rule. My wetsuit, being the basic entry level Foor Classic, is owned by many and so I guess someone picked it up thinking it was theirs. Much panic about how I could source a new wetsuit in time for heading up to the Dambuster in 5 day’s time and the person realised their error and brought it back. Stress not quite finished yet. I go to print a final print out of my finish position to check I am still in 3^rd before the prize giving and it says I am now 27^th woman! What?! How can I be 3^rd in the faster wave, yet 24 women from the slower second wave have beaten me? I ask the organisers to check, he casually tells me, ‘Oh yes, you were disqualified.’ SAY WHAT? ‘Scuse me? For what? ‘You only did 3 laps instead of 4 on the run.’ ‘No I flippin’ didn’t! I remember every one of those ghastly, convoluted things distinctly, plus both my parents were counting them for me. I can even show you my Garmin data’. After showing that my watch revealed I’d run 3 miles in 22 minutes, he double-checked the computer and realised that he’d accidentally copied-and-pasted two x lap 1, forgetting lap 2, so the computer thought I hadn’t run that one and automatically DQ’ed me! Minor heart-attack but he did manually amend it so I was called forward for my prize. Matt always tells me I am too cynical, but there’s a reason my motto is ‘TRUST NO-ONE’!!

Thanks must go to Vikki for the half-price entry, which I then won back in cash and prosecco: good prizes at this event. Vikki, being the amazing all-round athlete that she is, would have easily contended for top honours had she been on the start line.

Cash and prosecco - prize heaven!

The event has left me wondering where I go from here as far as multi-sport is concerned. Last night, we had a CSS timed swim at tri club. The last one I did, back in October, I swam 7:04 for the 400m. Last night I did 7:24. I know I was tired, but still, to get slower over the winter, after diligently training with the club twice a week, in addition to swimming at last once a week on my own on top of this, is bloody frustrating to say the least. I am acutely aware that I am no water baby. I figure I have probably improved all I am going to on the swim, but, at the top level of competition, this just isn’t good enough to keep me in contention. I lost 6 minutes to the first lady out of the water at South Hams; our bike times were pretty equal, and I made up 4 minutes on the run. I simply cannot claw back what I lose. I can regain some time, enough to scrape me into 3^rd spot – which is what keeps happening – but without a better swim, I will never be able to access those top two berths against a strong field. With duathlons, I replace my weakest discipline (swim) with two cracks at my best discipline (run)…. I think if I am to compete at a high level, it will have to be in dus and not tris.

We’ll see what next Saturday brings. The Dambuster will be my first crack at the Olympic distance event with a 1500m lake swim (yes! Love a lake, no waves, so salt!), 42km hilly bike and 10k run. Having decided that even if I qualify for the worlds at this event, I won’t be taking up the place, the pressure is now lifted and I can go to Rutland Water next week and aim to enjoy the experience of competing against a top class field and seeing how I fair.