There are advantages in doing triathlons. I realised as I packed for the previous two races - two bikes, two sets of kit and some 'normal' clothes - into the Mini, the one thing I didn't have was an up to-date passport. Technically you don't need one when travelling within the EU but as I didn't have any other photo-id other than my British triathlon race licence (I hadn't realised I was meant to have a photo drivers licence either) I just hoped for the best. Needless to say, security at the ferry port called me over. Asked the routine questions of 'business or pleasure?' and 'where are you staying?' to which I answered I'm doing a triathlon in Letterkenny. Taken aback, he peered through the car window, shook his head, gave a rye smile and wished me luck - phew!
Well after the Letterkenny race it's another another milestone (of sorts). 40 out of 50 completed, that's 80 per cent or 4/5ths! In other words only (you can see me getting a bit complacent) 10 to go and four months to do them. So touch wood and hope for an injury free few months - then I can fall apart at Christmas. So any thoughts having completed the 40th?
Somehow I feel I should be saying something profound. While I am certainly pleased and a little surprised to have made it thus far, to be honest it is tinged with a little disappointment. There are a number of events I would have liked to have done but haven't had the time or they've clashed; I haven't managed to see everyone I had wanted to and there are certainly parts of the country I haven't managed to visit. Also I am sensing that there may be a bit of a gap once I've completed them all so thank heavens the hockey season is about to start. I must admit to feeling the "spike of adrenaline" as Lance Armstrong describes it, that you get when competing which you don't really get training. The pain of competing becomes the exhilaration of completing, but this natural high can get a bit addictive.
There were a couple of quotes that I found pertinent (I'll be turning into a Joey Barton if I'm not careful and start quoting Neitzsche, although I haven't assaulted anyone - yet). I've reading one of my tri-mags and Chrisse Wellington (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrissie_Wellington) quotes Ghandhi "There is more to life than increasing it's speed" which while obviously being my philosophy for life in general, doesn't apply to racing (well not the bike sections at any rate possibly the swimming though?). Also I've been reading Clive James who in his fifth volume of memoirs - 'The Blaze of Obscurity - The TV years' describes how skiing (if done properly) "served as an ideal in my memory of whole the application of effort should always be exactly measured: nothing by force, everything by logical progression. Too much disturbance in the medium was a sign of strain". Also he quotes from Johnny Weissmuller's (Tarzan to those of us brought up on Saturday matinees at the local cinema) autobiography and possibly even more pertinent to my efforts "the essence of swimming the crawl is to relax the arm when it's out of the water, so that it wastes no energy. Fully relaxed, it will fall into the water under its own weight, without a splash. The secret of composition in any form is the appropriate application of effort. The result is an aesthetic effect that should never be aimed at directly, but only reaped as the harvest of correct preparation". Both of which can be applied to the multi-sport events I do.
Enough waffle! I think I'll leave the rest of these random 'musings' until I've actually finished and then bore you with a lessons learnt section - that is assuming of course I've learnt anything.
How was the next race? It is described (in a slightly edited version) on the All About Triathlons website (yes, one of my favourite organisers of events) as "The Hard as Snails 10k is a special event that uses the same course as the infamous G3 Series but with a different start / finish location. It will begin in the Chantries on the famous Pilgrims' Way in Guildford.. This event is a cross-country run on a single 10k loop. This epic course takes in the Pilgrims' Way over the North Downs where you'll encounter rolling hills, lofty summits and low off-road tracks weaving through the woodland.You'll feel leaves crunching underfoot, the wind in your hair (or not in my case) as you bound (or stagger in my case) across beautiful countryside. This is an awesome venue for one of the finest cross-country events on the calendar". The profile is shown on the Garmin link - http://connect.garmin.com/player/40286544
Now I did one of the G3 races (Race 29) so I don't have to bore you with lots of background information as I've already done so and of course you'll have remembered it. Both the Surrey Wildlife Trust (who this race supported) and St Martha's Hill and church are amply (some might say - more than amply) covered there.
Well after the Letterkenny race it's another another milestone (of sorts). 40 out of 50 completed, that's 80 per cent or 4/5ths! In other words only (you can see me getting a bit complacent) 10 to go and four months to do them. So touch wood and hope for an injury free few months - then I can fall apart at Christmas. So any thoughts having completed the 40th?
Somehow I feel I should be saying something profound. While I am certainly pleased and a little surprised to have made it thus far, to be honest it is tinged with a little disappointment. There are a number of events I would have liked to have done but haven't had the time or they've clashed; I haven't managed to see everyone I had wanted to and there are certainly parts of the country I haven't managed to visit. Also I am sensing that there may be a bit of a gap once I've completed them all so thank heavens the hockey season is about to start. I must admit to feeling the "spike of adrenaline" as Lance Armstrong describes it, that you get when competing which you don't really get training. The pain of competing becomes the exhilaration of completing, but this natural high can get a bit addictive.
There were a couple of quotes that I found pertinent (I'll be turning into a Joey Barton if I'm not careful and start quoting Neitzsche, although I haven't assaulted anyone - yet). I've reading one of my tri-mags and Chrisse Wellington (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrissie_Wellington) quotes Ghandhi "There is more to life than increasing it's speed" which while obviously being my philosophy for life in general, doesn't apply to racing (well not the bike sections at any rate possibly the swimming though?). Also I've been reading Clive James who in his fifth volume of memoirs - 'The Blaze of Obscurity - The TV years' describes how skiing (if done properly) "served as an ideal in my memory of whole the application of effort should always be exactly measured: nothing by force, everything by logical progression. Too much disturbance in the medium was a sign of strain". Also he quotes from Johnny Weissmuller's (Tarzan to those of us brought up on Saturday matinees at the local cinema) autobiography and possibly even more pertinent to my efforts "the essence of swimming the crawl is to relax the arm when it's out of the water, so that it wastes no energy. Fully relaxed, it will fall into the water under its own weight, without a splash. The secret of composition in any form is the appropriate application of effort. The result is an aesthetic effect that should never be aimed at directly, but only reaped as the harvest of correct preparation". Both of which can be applied to the multi-sport events I do.
Enough waffle! I think I'll leave the rest of these random 'musings' until I've actually finished and then bore you with a lessons learnt section - that is assuming of course I've learnt anything.
How was the next race? It is described (in a slightly edited version) on the All About Triathlons website (yes, one of my favourite organisers of events) as "The Hard as Snails 10k is a special event that uses the same course as the infamous G3 Series but with a different start / finish location. It will begin in the Chantries on the famous Pilgrims' Way in Guildford.. This event is a cross-country run on a single 10k loop. This epic course takes in the Pilgrims' Way over the North Downs where you'll encounter rolling hills, lofty summits and low off-road tracks weaving through the woodland.You'll feel leaves crunching underfoot, the wind in your hair (or not in my case) as you bound (or stagger in my case) across beautiful countryside. This is an awesome venue for one of the finest cross-country events on the calendar". The profile is shown on the Garmin link - http://connect.garmin.com/player/40286544
Now I did one of the G3 races (Race 29) so I don't have to bore you with lots of background information as I've already done so and of course you'll have remembered it. Both the Surrey Wildlife Trust (who this race supported) and St Martha's Hill and church are amply (some might say - more than amply) covered there.
Again I was competing with Kevin and Pete. Wonderfully lazy, I was being chauffeured. Picked up at my door at 7am and able to appreciate the view as we left London for a change. Another sign of getting old is my response to modern technology. Kevin had one of those GPS Tom Toms 'thingies' that tell you were to go in what I found to be a irritatingly all knowing voice. Fortunately it could be turned right down and to be fair it was useful in town - but I'm not sure that I could cope with being told what to do all the time. I suppose you get used to if you're married ..... hmmm I don't think I'll take that argument to its logical conclusion. Registered and met up with Pete - who'd I'd singularly failed to respond to: another failure of my relationship with modern technology as I hadn't realised I had text messages on my Blackberry. To be honest I wasn't the only one who'd had a 'senior' moment as when looking at the start list to get our race numbers, we noticed two Kevin Murphys - one a vet and one open category. Kevin was concerned that he might have entered twice and somehow got his age wrong? We found out later there was another KM ~ a younger version.
We crossed the road and made our way to the start for a warm up and to become a little intimidated at how fit everyone looked, the number of people with running club vests on, how young they were..... and so forth. After a quick speech through a megaphone, the start of the race was signalled by a quick “3…2…1…Go!” We were off, shuffling through the start gate and breaking into a trot only to break back into a shuffle moments later as came face to face with a Range Rover towing a horse box! Not something you normally come encounter on a cross country run!
Then it was back into my race pace. The initial inclines were not too bad, just enough to get you breathing heavily and start to separate the field out a bit. Then it was up St Martha's Hill for the first time. This really separated out those who had gone off too fast or were just not used to hill climbing. Again on reaching the top the views were just spectacular - it would be great if could momentarily stop your race chip just to spend time appreciating the views. Over the crest and back down into the valley on trials that were very sandy. In fact, very, very sandy in places, pretty much ankle deep in places. This tends to absorbs a lot of the power in the stride, it feels like you are running on a beach and if you have ever run on a beach you will know how much extra effort is required just to maintain a reasonable pace.
We crossed the road and made our way to the start for a warm up and to become a little intimidated at how fit everyone looked, the number of people with running club vests on, how young they were..... and so forth. After a quick speech through a megaphone, the start of the race was signalled by a quick “3…2…1…Go!” We were off, shuffling through the start gate and breaking into a trot only to break back into a shuffle moments later as came face to face with a Range Rover towing a horse box! Not something you normally come encounter on a cross country run!
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| Amazing views (spoilt by foreground!) |
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| Pete's Action Man style |
Parts of the course were familiar as we had run this on the outward leg and were now running back the opposite way - though this approach to St Martha's hill was steeper and sandier than the outward leg. However this perception might be because I was knackered? As is the case in most of these races, the photographer is sited at the point of most pain i.e. the top. They use the excuse of the light is better, less contrast or some such, but summoning a grimace, I mean smile is an effort in itself.
The remainder of the race is 'predominantly' downhill now but there were a few more, mercifully short, inclines to negotiate. Something else to negotiate were horse riders. One chatty lady trotted alongside myself and another competitor asking about our pacing etc. It was difficult to carry a conversation and a little intimidating running alongside a horse. We also came across another rider who was slightly less amenable to having her morning canter disrupted by a couple of hundred sweaty gasping runners.
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| His "Dapper-ness" |
The small group I'd been pacing began to draw ahead as we got nearer the finish line. You can hear he cheers of the spectators before seeing the finish as it is a sharp right turn, then a 100m 'sprint' to get over the line. It was a packet of jelly babies, a banana and a Goodness Shakes (recovery drink) as a reward. No medal or t-shirt (a good thing) and again the most useful of prizes - free downloads of all the photos! An organisation that obviously knows what competitors really want. This being the case, I've included pictures of Pete and Kevin (and myself of course) showing the difference in running styles. Best summarised as Pete "all action man"; Kevin as shown already in the Beast in the East (Race 21 in May) "dapper" and ridiculously cheerful (not sure how you can smile like that and wave having just run up St Martha's Hill, and me? Probably "a limp-wristed lollop" best describes my running action as evidenced by the YouTube clip in The Hurt - Race 33. It was then back to the car to be whisked effortlessly home.
The final point to make you'll be relieved to hear - is that a woman won! In the 41 races done this year (and many done in previous years) this is the first time it has happened. Not only did she (Katie Hewison) win, she destroyed the field, winning by a margin of almost two minutes. Found out subsequently thanks to Rob Harrison, that she won a silver medal in the duathlon European Championships last year.
RESULT: 47th out of 280 in a time of 48:58 (15 secs slower than last year)
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