National Team Tri Relays – 2023 Edition

Once again it was that time of the year for the organised chaos that is the team triathlon relays. You can read about my previous relay posts here and here.

Last year COLT had two teams, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. This year, we had two in the morning and two in the afternoon. The COLT Trihards were the fast team, with out team simply named The B-Team. The two afternoon teams were The Afternoon Coffee Team and The Afternoon Tea Team.

I was racing in the morning with the more sedate team, while the Trihards ended up finishing tenth overall, which is an astounding feat.

Anyway, the team I was in consisted of Hobbit, who I’ve known for years and raced with last year, and also organised all of the teams which is like herding cats with people dropping out at the last minute. The other two people were Paul and Bethany, who I had never met before and had never raced the relays before. Hopefully they enjoyed the event and will be back next year.

Hobbit took one for the team, and took on the notoriously tough first swim. He’s also a beast in the water and was out much earlier than I expected. Hand over complete and I dived into the water, losing half of my goggles and having to swim with only on eye. I then handed over to Paul.

There were a couple of “offs” on the bike out on the course as there had been some rain overnight, including one of the fast COLT men, although he was okay to continue. One person from an RAF team was less fortunate and had to receive treatment out on the course. He race was over. The rumour was that he’d been taken out by a goose. I hope he recovers quickly.

Out on the bike course and there was a nasty head wind on the way back, but the three laps soon passed. As Hobbit started his run, he was neck and neck, briefly, with the second runner from the COLT fast team. I headed out on the run with the aim to take it a little slower than the previous year. I’d had a couple of niggles and all I really wanted from the run was to survive without making them worse, which I think I’ve managed. My time was a little slower and my average heart rate was “only” 162 bpm. I handed over to Paul who was two minutes quicker than me.

Last year, all of the teams had been allowed to run through the finish funnel as a group. Unfortunately, this year, the organisers had a lack of volunteers and were unable to repeat it this year. I only noticed one team having a little moan over this.

Bethany had a great run and picked up a COLT flag as she ran into the finish funnel, with group photo a few minutes later. We finished in the top half, and our times were very consistent, with only a minute or two between the four of us. Bethany, who is at least 20 years younger than the rest of us, was the quickest in our team.

Hobbit then produced a large homemade cake with clotted cream. Absolutely perfect after a hard days racing.

The only drawback from my point of view was that Helen, my lovely wife, hadn’t been able to join us. Originally, we had planned on camping the night before and the night after. However, a new puppy made that idea not a good one, so she stayed at home to look after him. Next year, puppy will join us, and Helen has even stated a desire to race as well.

National Tri Team Relays

Half way round the bike leg it suddenly dawned on my how much fun the team relays are. This was the fourth time that I’d done the relays, but the first time with COLT. The last time I had done them was back in 2003 with Oxford Tri. I don’t have the full results from back then, but in 2000 we were 12th mixed team in a time of 3 hr 29. My individual time was just under 50 minutes, although the swim was a lot shorter. The race might have stated that it was a 500m swim, but it was definitely no further than 400m.

Anyway, 2022 is now, and while none of us are as quick as we used to be, we all gave it everything. COLT had two teams racing, a male team in the morning and a mixed team in the afternoon.

How does it all work? First swimmer goes off, hands over to swimmer 2, etc, and then swimmer 4 hands over to the first person again who sets off on the bike leg. The distances were 500m swim, 15km bike (3 laps of the rowing lake) and a 5km run (1 lap of the lake).

Our team consisted off some very experienced triathletes, with Craig off first, then me, followed by John and finally team captain and organiser Chris (Hobbit). The first leg of the swim is a mass start and is always carnage. Craig had some issues during the swim, but still managed to be quickest out of all of us. The hardest part for me is the swim handover. Fortunately, Craig spotted me and handed the red band over to me. John also spotted me and I could gratefully hand the ‘baton’ over.

The bike is three fast flat laps of the lake, with a tiny uphill section into the wind near the start. The path is nice and wide up one side but a little narrower coming back, but with it being straight and flat there are plenty of fast times.

The run has a couple of very small uphill sections, but at the time they felt quite steep. The first mile is on a perimeter path with plenty of support, but then the long grind up the lake takes its toll mentally, as it feels like the end of the lake is never going to come.

I was very happy to hand over to John at the end of the run, with an average heart rate of 168bpm. One thing that has changed from when I did this race all those years ago, was that the whole team could run through the finish funnel together, which we did, although Hobbit had no intention of slowly down for the rest of us as we were very close to sneaking under 4 hours. I have to say we did look good in our COLT kit.

What made the race special for me was my lovely wife came with me. Friends looked after our dog for us so that we could relax. The whole event is brilliant, and far better organised that it used to be. It is great to be able to chat with your team mates between legs, and there is always something going on. Watching a regular triathlon can be a long boring day. This event is the complete opposite. Helen enjoyed it so much that she wants to race next year, which will be even better. Unfortunately, we did have to get back for old Nelly, so we could stay to watch the mixed team race in the afternoon. Next year, we’re going to book two nights at the campsite next to the event so that we can relax the night before and not have to rush off.

Finally, if you want to read a much better written report of this race, you can find my team mate, John Sutton’s blog here.

National Triathlon Team Relays

The team relays have been going for 30 years, and this year I am part of a team from the City of Lancaster Triathlon Club, or COLT. The relays are quite simple, although very chaotic. The distances are approximately 500m swim, 15km bike and a 5km run, with four people on each team. The format is also simple, with the first person swimming, and then handing to the second person, who then also swims, and onto the third and fourth person. As the fourth person finishes the swim they hand over to the first person who starts cycling, and so on until the fourth person finishes the run.

There used to be an elite wave where all four members raced at the same time, and they couldn’t start the next leg until all of them had finished, and the time would only finish when the last runner had crossed the line. I don’t know if this is still an option.

Anyway, it is fast and furious, fairly chaotic, especially for the first swimmer. This will be the fourth time that I’ve raced, with all of the other times being part of a team from Oxford Triathlon. I raced in 1999, 2000 and 2003.

In 1999 we were 48th Male Team, with a combined time of 3 hours 31′ 42”.

In 2000 we were 12th Mixed Team, with a combined time of 3 hours 28’11”.

In 2003 we were 16th Male Team. Unfortunately I didn’t write down our combined time, and I have been unable to find the results from that year, but I can safely say that all four of us were fairly speedy.

This year, 19 years after my last appearance, will be a lot more sedate, although hopefully I won’t let the team down. I will blog about it after the event, with some photos.

My First Triathlon

It’s hard to believe, but I completed my very first triathlon 31 years ago to the day. It was the Hull Sprint Triathlon. The finishers t-shirt fell apart many years ago, but I do still have the printed results, somewhere, I think.

I used to go cycling, nothing too serious, 40 miles at the most, but I was friends with the local bike shop. One day I was there and I noticed a poster advertising the Hull Sprint Triathlon. The owner of the bike shop joked that I should do it, so I said OK. I hadn’t been swimming for years and I don’t think I’d ever been for a run. How hard could it be?

Very hard, as it turned out. The swim was only 400m, which took me over 11 minutes. I wasn’t worried because I expected to overtake loads of people on the bike leg. Boy was I wrong, as cyclist after cyclist streamed past me. I staggered out of transition onto the run. My legs felt like they were on backwards. The flat 5k run took me over 26 minutes.

I finished well down the field, but I loved it, I was hooked. Since that auspicious start I have now completed 57 triathlons, of all distances, including official M-Dot races and even ultra distance triathlons.

I remember chatting to a fellow competitor at the Salford Triathlon a couple of years ago, who mentioned that he wasn’t even born when I did my first race. I don’t care. I want to still be doing triathlons well into my 80s, and beyond. I might not be at the sharp end of racing anymore, but with each subsequent age group my chances of Kona qualification increases.

When was your first triathlon?

South Manchester Triathlon

I raced a small sprint triathlon yesterday in Wilmslow. There are two races each year, with the one on April called the Wilmslow Triathlon and the September one, which I did, called the South Manchester Triathlon. I’m not sure why they need different names, but there you go.

Having not done a triathlon since Kendal in 2019 I fancied a short race to finish the season, and even though Kendal was on the same day and would have loads of people I knew doing it, I opted for somewhere I’d never been before. The distances were 400m pool swim, 24.5km bike and a 6km run. I was also planning on taking it nice and steady.

My start time was 10:40 so no rush in the morning, which was nice, although I managed to leave my coffee on the roof of the car when I set off. I stopped a couple of minutes later for fuel and it was still there, but on its side without any coffee. Paying for the petrol took ages as there was someone doing their weekly shop through the security hatch, much like the song 24 Hour Garage People by Half Man Half Biscuit. It is a highly amusing song until you are stuck behind said person.

The journey to Wilmslow wasn’t particularly great as it involved almost all of the Manchester motorway network, where in the past even with Sat Nav I have managed to get lost. Anyway, once at the leisure centre I parked up and registered. The man next to me was asking the volunteers if he could buy a race belt as he had forgotten his. Me and my lovely wife have a habit of forgetting race belts and having to buy new ones, so we have loads. I had packed an extra one just in case someone needed one, so I happily lent it to random stranger. This was the least of his worries as he had locked his bike up in his van and left the key at home, so his wife had to rush back to Blackburn to get it. Hopefully he managed to sort everything out and have a good race.

I racked my bike and took a couple of photos of transition, and promptly got reprimanded by an official as you’re not allowed to use your phone in transition. Oops!

Once I was all set up I decided to go to the pool to see the set up and found that I could start early if I wanted to. With a maximum of 3 people in each lane the swim was very relaxed. I’d put down an expected time of 8 minutes and finished in 8 minutes and 6 seconds. A bit slower than my usual, but I’ve hardly swam in the last 18 months.

Out on the bike and I immediately got stuck behind an Ocado delivery van, although the first km was slow as the route negotiated its way out of the town. The route then headed towards the airport along fairly main roads before going under the runway through a couple of short tunnels. Sensibly I took the safe cycle path route through them, before being held up at a left turn by a horse box. A few minutes later I was held up by the same horse box again as they struggled to overtake another triathlete. This was the first person I had seen since starting the bike leg although I overtook a few more people on the way back into Wilmslow.

Off the bike and onto a small dirt track for the start of the urban run. The were a couple of sections with runners coming in the other direction, but every turn had marshalls and volunteers. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a race with as many people helping out. I hadn’t pushed it too hard on the bike so I picked up the pace as there were quite a few people to chase down. There was a sting in the tail of the run as the route went up and over a main road and railway via a long flight of steps. My Garmin heart rate analysis of the run can be seen below. My average heart rate was 170bpm with a max of 180bpm. Yikes!

Across the finish line and I was handed a nice little goody bag with a medal and buff (see photo below), along with a flapjack and a bottle of water. All much needed.

The results were out nice and quickly and I finished in 28th place overall and 3rd in my age group. I was very happy with that especially as apart from the run I hadn’t pushed myself too hard. Additionally, the next day my legs feel absolutely fine. All in all a very well organised and friendly race. I doubt if I’ll do this particular race again, but I’ll definitely keep an eye out for other OP Events.

As an added bonus, a week after the race I could download a free finish line photo. I wish more events would give the digital photos away for free, as I’m sure it does wonders for an organisers social media stats.

Strava activities can be found here, if you felt the need to give me Kudos.

The Swim https://www.strava.com/activities/5984597067

The Bike https://www.strava.com/activities/5984598764

The Run https://www.strava.com/activities/5984599714

Toyko Olympics – Mixed Relays

I’ve not watched much of the Olympics, but what I have watched has been brilliant. I watched the mixed relays. The 4 x 400 athletics relay was a mess with a few teams not taking it seriously, which made the win by unfancied Poland even more amazing.

The triathlon relay was absolutely nail biting stuff with only seconds separating the top few teams. Great Britain were favourites but it was by no means assured, although it was great to see Jonny Brownlee pick up a gold medal to go with his silver and bronze from previous Olympics.

In the pool the 4 x 100 Medley was one of the most incredible races that I have ever watched, made all the more exciting because the women and men were racing together. In the triathlon and track relays the men race the men and the women race the women, but in the pool each team can utilise their strongest swimmers, no matter what leg they do. This lead to the amazing spectacle of seeing four men and four women lining up on the starting blocks. The triathlon relay is definitely missing a trick here, and should let each team race in whatever order they like. A female triathlete with a strong cycling discipline might be able to keep up with the men as the races are draft legal. I will suggest it.

I’ve also liked the fact that for the first time ever there have been more female athletes than male, and that there are no male only or female only events. It isn’t complete parity yet. In gymnastics on the floor routines the women are judged on how their moves are in tune with the music, but the men don’t have music for their routines. Maybe the men should also have to do their routines to music.

I was disappointed to see Novak Djokovic criticise Simone Biles for pulling out for mental health reasons, and then two days later he smashes his rackets on court, storms off and pulls out of the doubles in a hissy fit. I’ve not seen him apologise yet.

Anyway, I would like to see more mixed events.

Races 2021

With lockdown slowly easing and more people being vaccinated, there is a certain amount of optimism regarding races in 2021. Pretty much every race last year was either cancelled or postponed, although both me and Helen are being cautious with what we enter.

Ullswater Trail Race

In two weeks time we will be racing around Ullswater. I’m doing the full race, 20 hilly miles, while Helen is doing the 10 mile version which includes a ferry ride to Pooley Bridge. Way before anyone had heard of Covid we did something similar with Nelly (read about it here).

Backyard Ultra

When I first stumbled upon the concept of the Backyard Ultra I knew that at some point I would have to have a go. The idea is simple, every hour you run just over 4 miles, and you keep going until only one person is left standing. The one I’m doing is in North Wales, but there are hundreds all over the world. Unlike Ironman, the original organisers are happy to support anyone who wants to put on their own version.

Coniston Swim

This was one of my cancelled races from last year, and it is the full length of Coniston Water, just over 5 miles. I’ve only managed two swims this year, however, this race isn’t until September so I should have opportunity to get a few longer swims in before the event.

Cancelled/Postponed Races

The Oldham Way Ultra has been postponed for the second year running, so possibly I will manage this hilly 40 mile race in 2022.

My amazing wife had entered us into the Castle to Coast Triathlon, which was cancelled last year, but we’ve deferred our entry until 2022. Neither of us had done enough cycling to enjoy what could be one of the best races we’ve ever done. The swim is in Windsor, the bike ride heads towards Brighton, and the run is 13 miles into Brighton, hence the name – Castle to Coast.

Hopefully we’ll enter a few more races as the year progresses, and we’re also looking forward to parkruns starting up again. It does appear that there are some issues and that they are looking to commence towards the end of June. Fingers crossed.

That’s us for official races. Helen will also be doing the Bay Limestone Round in a team once again, with me and Nelly supporting, and we’d also like to have a go at the George Fisher Tea or Espresso Rounds.

What races have you entered?

Book Review: Operation Ironman by George Mahood

A couple of weeks ago I finished Free Country by George Mahood (read my review here) and enjoyed it so much that when I noticed that he had written a triathlon related book I had to purchase it.

As the front cover says, from hospital bed to the starting line of an Ironman. For those of you who don’t know what an Ironman is, it is a continuous race (or event) consisting of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, finished off with a full 26.2 mile marathon. There is also a time limit, generally 17 hours, but as George finds out on his journey, the particular Ironman that he has entered has a 16 hour time limit.

George isn’t unfit. He played 5-a-side, cycled to the shops, ran a bit, including a few marathons, so when his back started hurting it put a stop to all these things, as well as impacting upon looking after three young children. Eventually, his back problem is diagnosed and an operation is scheduled. Convalescing in hospital George comes upon the idea of completing an Ironman later the same year, as motivation to recovering. Ironman UK at Bolton would have been at the ideal time, but was full, so a race in France was entered.

The book is very funny, especially when George realises that he has been swimming wrong all these years, and then finds out the same with cycling and running. I often find adventure or sporty books more fun when the protagonist doesn’t really know what they are doing, making mistakes all over the place. His training is sporadic, to say the least, with very little running, not wanting to place a strain on his back. George also doesn’t have all of the expensive kit, borrowing a bike from his father. He does join Strava, and I have requested to follow him, although he hasn’t accepted my friend request yet.

What I also loved about this book was that George wasn’t looking for a respectable finishing time, he was only looking at finishing, making notes about cut-off times. There is a great deal of pressure to perform well at an Ironman, which is one of the reasons that I haven’t done one for over 20 years, but George has put the idea into my head that maybe when I turn 60 I should do another. I would follow George’s lead and simply aim to finish and try to enjoy it as much as possible.

This book isn’t just for triathletes, it is that fun to read, and I gave it 5 out of 5 on Goodreads. Added to that I will also be purchasing more of George’s books.

Capernwray Mid Week Aquathlon

The Dive Centre in Capernwray is open once again for diving and more importantly, safe open water swimming. It is limited to 10 swimmers per two hour session and by the time we got round to booking there were only a couple of slots left. However, yesterday me and my lovely wife went there for a swim. We were also surprised by how many divers there were, but I suppose there isn’t much chance of catching a pandemic under water. For me this was my first ‘real’ swim for 3 and a half months, if you don’t include the very short swims we’ve done in the Lune (read about them here and here). I remember back in March reading that the Uni pool was going to close temporarily, with one last swim on a Thursday morning. I didn’t go because like most people I thought everything would be back to normal within a few weeks. Anyway, Helen managed 3 laps at Capernwray and I did one extra. We were both very slow and very tired by the end. Neither of us did much for the rest of the day. We’re booked in for another swim next Saturday and hopefully we’ll have found our swimming muscles by then.

This is all a roundabout way of saying how much we enjoy Capernwray for swimming. The local T2 Events also put on mid week triathlons once a month during the summer, as well as a few other events. They also organised the Kendal triathlon that I did last year on my 50th birthday (read about it here). Last August I entered a mid-week aquathlon, which was run in tandem with the triathlon. After a full day at work and driving home from Horwich I knew that even a sprint  triathlon would be hard going which was why I had entered the aquathlon. I also really enjoy aquathlons. Additionally it would give me chance to chat with loads of friends who would also be there.

There were almost 200 entrants for the sprint triathlon with about a dozen lined up for the aquathlon. The triathlon people went off first and then we followed five minutes later. As it was a gloriously hot evening, the water was nice and warm, and the swim was only 500m, I went without a wetsuit.

You forget how much extra buoyancy there is with a wetsuit until you have to tread water without one, waiting for the race to begin. I didn’t expect to be out of the water first, although I hadn’t expected a young lad in the 10-14 age group to swim over two minutes quicker than me, at least I didn’t have to struggle out of my wetsuit in transition. All I had to do was drop my goggles and pull on my running shoes, although there were still a few people doing the sprint triathlon with wetsuits who managed to get through transition quicker than me.

The run headed out of the dive centre, onto the road for a short distance before an out and back section along the canal. I soon overtook the young lad and was very pleased with my sub 20 minute 5km run leg.

Unfortunately the race was somewhat marred by a very angry competitor who had gone the wrong way on the run and was shouting at a couple of race marshals. I don’t know how he went wrong as there was a very big arrow pointing towards the canal. I tried to placate him but he wasn’t having any of it, storming off to rant at anyone else who would listen. A complete nob!

Anyway, T2 Events always put on a good race and they are hopeful about starting a few very small mid week races again in the near future.

 

Double Training Days

There’s something special about training twice on the same day. I’m not talking about brick sessions, or going for a swim in the morning with a run in the evening. I mean training twice with the same discipline. Recently I have been increasing my running in preparation for the Oldham Way Ultra (now cancelled, obviously), and a few times I’ve been for a run on my own in the morning, and then been for a run with my amazing wife later the same day. Running twice on the same day is hard on the legs, but it also feels great.

In the summer we like to go open water swimming, but a few times I’ve been for a swim in the pool before work, and then been for an open water swim that evening. The shoulders and arms always feel a bit tired, and afterwards I want to eat the whole contents of the fridge.

Commuting by bicycle is one way of training twice in one day, but why don’t you smash it up on your best bike in the morning, and then amble around later the same day on a slower bike (if you own more than one bike).

I would recommend taking it a bit easier than normal, but every once in a while, twice a day training will give you a definite buzz.

However, you might have to wait a couple of months as current government guidance states that you should only go out for one form of exercise per day.