The BIG one.....

So it's the big weekend.... no, not the fact it's my 36th birthday but the fact that there's a couple of Olympians being chased round a National Trust property by 1000 or so "normal" people that I have to get through in order to actually make my 36th birthday on Monday.

400m swim, 10km bike, 2.5km run.....
You've done it in the gym, it's easy right!? Everyone keeps telling you it's easy, (funnily enough none of these people actually do any kind of outdoor sport, or in fact ANY actual sport....) but they keep telling you it's easy so it must be.
That is until it gets to about a week away and all those "easy people" have now decided it's completely mad/unachievable/cold/wet/insane/only for young people/ only for boys/ only for mad people/ they couldn't/wouldn't ever do it.... thanks guys.

Do they sell confidence in buckets anywhere!?

I've done the swims, 800ms and 1000ms this year.... 400m is barely a warm up but obviously the best time to change your stroke of choice is a month before an event. A stroke which requires committing to a different wetsuit, one you can't do breaststroke in, yes I've joined the dark side and given in to doing my weaker freestyle and obviously the best time to try this out is at the biggest event of the year. No idea if I can make it round, can just about do it in the pool, Triathlon England branded me a zig-zagger, ME!? a bloody zig-zagger!? how am I ever going to abuse the pool muggles now!?
Only had one outdoor practice at the whole sighting thing but it's only 400m, it'll be fine......
Not going to inhale duck poo/ be chased by a swan/ crick neck sighting/ get kicked in the face/ lose goggles/ swim into bank/ swim into buoy/ miss buoy entirely and get disqualified etc......
At least if I don't make the swim I wont have to make the hill or the run :-/

The bike... ahhh yes, am currently sitting 4th or 5th on the indoor triathlon results at the gym, clocked 21.50 on a fairly high resistance, so should be alright on this. Decide in a last min panic to ring bike shop and enquire about changing my gear set up for a triple........
"You want to change all your ultegra parts!? .......have you won the lottery?"
"Ummm no but I do have an unchecked ticket, does that help!?"
"Go away and count how many teeth on your rear sprocket....."
Googles: "wtf is a rear sprocket?"
 "It's 28!?"
"....Oh Ok, we recommend you MAN THE HELL UP!" :-S

The run.... AKA the seventh circle of hell, this time EVERYONE is watching and there are cameras and long public finish lines, and long public run ins and it's close to home so you know people and there'll be mud on your gym only shoes.......
Super, just SUPER! *happy place* *Happy Place* *WTF IS MY HAPPY PLACE!?*

For one reason and another "rest week" doesn't go entirely to plan and is actually "stress week". Convinced myself that cortisol overload has burned up all my muscle gains so wont even have the strength to push bike out of transition let alone pedal up that hill, which by the way I've still only puked up once, never mind twice. Rant at PT, rant at mother, fall out with brother, rant at and nearly cry on physio, so much so that it required an apologetic "sorry for being a challenging client today" email, REALLY needed to go to the gym but taper means gym is off limits, work dog thinks it's Christmas as it gets taken for really long walks in contemplative places which means it's left to its own devices to chase crows, eat dead pidgeons/deer poo, roll in mud/bonfire ash and get absent mindedly fed treats for vaguely returning.

....and no I did not try Kalms tablets or rescue remedy, I did however resort to "night time" tea and frequently question why the bloody hell I keep entering this stuff!? Why can I not be excited by warming draws or the colour of cooker splash backs (You see I'm now questioning whether I need to Google this as did not pay that much attention to the name of the coloured thing you put behind a cooker hob to stop stuff splattering your walls....) and spend my Sundays at Ikea like the rest of my friends all seem to be doing!?

Physio is very pleased with himself at the moment. Mostly because he is actually doing something about his lack of marathon training and also because during one of our recent sessions he finally extracted a swear word and actual salty ocular discharge (which required a pillowcase change) by doing things to my legs that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. There was also perfuse swearing in the privacy of the car interior when it was discovered that close fitting contoured seats, a physio's elbow and lateral hamstrings are not an entirely happy marriage, made worse by the fact that someone decided what the Romans lacked in road building were corners, lots and lots of sodding corners.....
Legs were subsequently embalmed in biofreeze and effectively bubble wrapped in kinesio tape and calf guards till race day. The following week however when he should have been doing some performance enhancing work on my shoulders (yes I let him near me again....) physio actually ended up sorting out a stupid back spasm that came out of nowhere and would have made the bike climb a literal pain in the @!$£. This time I got sent away with instructions on taping my @!$£ as while he has seen me from just about every conceivable unflattering angle, taping my SI joint was clearly a bridge too far.
Luckily (...and don't tell him this) physio is actually a genius and with a LOT of Rock Tape, a few ibuprofen and less swearing the second time round, when race day arrives just about everything is working.
There's a lesson here, find the right people! You need a support network who you can rail against without the threat of divorce a week before a race, that can fix things that go wrong, that can calm you down or psyche you up and that most of all you trust because they know what they're doing and they're good at what they do. It's a good thing that they occasionally make me swear, it means they are pushing me just the right amount. If a physio that gives you a sheet of exercises and sends you away isn't working for you, find one that works differently, accept that one person may not be able to fix everything in it's entirety and what often works best but is less frequently used is a holistic/combined approach. I have a physio, a PT, a sports massage lady, a chiro and a dog. They all work slightly differently and I use them as such. PT is best at stretching my shoulders, physio is best at stretching my hips, sports massage lady is best at smashing everything, physio is best at specifics, chiro is good at re aligning and PT is best at keeping it there. Physio raises his eyebrows a bit at PT doing NKT stuff and injects the occasional sarcasm about the pain in my calf probably coming from my collar bone but even he has had to concede the combination is working and he has yet to disagree fundamentally with anything my PT has said.
.......and the dog is a good listener that in return for a gravy bone will pay more attention than most boyfriends and wont bitch about you on Facebook!

I've really struggled with self belief this year, more so than I expected which seems strange really when I look back at what I've done. (You see right there I've written "done" when really it should say "achieved".) The real battle is not about PBs it's about changing the way I see myself.
It's important to me that the two men in my life drop in the occasional "You've come a long way" or "I have every confidence in you" comment. Because I trust them to tell me when I'm being crap or when I shouldn't do something, hopefully it's those comments you play back to yourself when it gets tough.
The swimming is there now and I don't really stress too much before a swim only event. The triathlon stuff is still fairly new though and pushing to do something that I know realistically is close to my physical limit causes a fair amount of anxiety. Added to that the pressure you and others put on you to do well has different affects on different people. Some people thrive on it and rise to the challenge and some succumb to the pressure and don't perform to their potential.
For me I think that one of the biggest stressors is that I hate not finishing something I've started, so not finishing a race whether it's because I didn't train hard enough or because of something I can't control like a technical failure is a big fear for me but also a driving force. When asked why he didn't stop at the ITU London final even though he was in obvious pain with no hope of a competitive finish Alistair Brownlee said "I've never not finished a race in my life!" and while the sensible part of me says he should have saved himself from further injury, that for him there's far more at stake than one race, another part of me can understand where he's coming from.
To give myself the best chance of crossing that line, I make sure I can swim 50% past the target and I try, where I can, to train harder and under more difficult conditions than I expect to find but you never really know what you will find until the day. You could easily find yourself lining up in a far superior field of athletes, the water could be colder than expected or rougher, there could be last minute course changes, a wetsuit ban, the weather could be your friend or your enemy.... and so on.
This race is the big one for me and with nearly 900 other people including two brothers who know a bit about triathlon, it would be easy to feel over awed by it. It's the first one so there's no "bench mark" to go off by looking at last year's results. Nobody really knows until the day if the starting line up is going to look like the Yorkshire version of Kona or the result of some late night, alcohol fuelled bravado.
One very valuable thing we were told on the triathlon England training was to let go of the things you can't control. If all the best athletes in the area turn up on the same day, you're not going to come in the top ten, there's no point beating yourself up about it. You have to run the best race you can, for you, on the day.

So, finally, it's the day before. For some God unknown reason I'm in the gym at 9am on my day off.... Mostly to talk through any last minute nerves with my PT and to do some PNF type stretching on my shoulders as due to a back problem earlier in the week physio didn't get to them..... but still 9 AM!!?This means I mean business! 11am it's physio time.... (recall there was a rule about not seeing my two favourite sadists on the same day, physio is thinking he has a rule about not seeing his most challenging clients twice in one week....) Well I thought it was phyiso time, rushed home on my bike, ran in, striped in living room, threw on physio appropriate clothing, ran out, calmed breathing for 30seconds outside clinic door, went in, sat down, thought oh he's running a bit behind - that's not like him, Tony the receptionist looks up and says "You know it's 11.30 don't you!?" Damn it, too keen! Return home, collect tape in case there's a square inch of my back I've missed, go to cash point, return to clinic, still early..... Physio opens door and double takes that for once I'm waiting for him but does not, as anticipated after previous session, adopt the foetal position or hold out restraining order which is somewhat of a relief. He stretches out my hip flexors as only he can, admires my taping, does some last minute work on my back, prods my calf (the one that caused all the swearing and pillow stains) in what he assures me is an entirely professional manner (....it was prodding!) and declares that "You're not in bad nick..." when cross examined in manner of an unsatisfied woman with "You wouldn't tell me if I wasn't would you!?" he agrees that "at this point no, not unless it was serious" hmmm you get the impression he is used to placating unreasonable women.

Lunch made in the manner of a professional athlete and nothing left to do for almost TWELVE WHOLE HOURS!

 

Saturday 21st September; that's it, training is over, PT is over, physio is over, it's time to see if I can keep up with the dust behind two Olympians.

At least the Yorkshire weather has decided to be kind to us, it's relatively warm with the threat of sunshine but more importantly no wind!

With a race start of 1pm it was a bit of a dilemma when to set off. Get there too early and it's easy to lose focus or get stressed out watching other people. Set off too late and you risk not being ready or in the right frame of mind. I left about 9.30 to go pick up my volunteer wing woman Jessica, my family are notoriously crap at time management and even with the addition of my brother's girlfriend to keep them on track and telling my brother he needed to be there at least 30mins before he should have been there, they still managed to rock up just before 12 so it was easier to stay out of all that, just get there, get set up, have a drink, watch Jonny getting his wetsuit on, watch Alistair warming up on his bike, chase them about failing/bottling it trying to get my race number signed.

 

Realise I am behind schedule on my drink and fuel plan, neck half a bottle of powerade 45mins before the start.... (Breaking my own 1hr before rule would be something I'd later regret)

The boys were around all day, in transition and at the finish. It was really great that they just mixed with everyone as I'd just assumed they'd be cordoned off in their own VIP area.

 



At 12 o' clock the boys were set to race each other in the “Brownlee Challenge” giving competitors the chance to see how their times compared to the Olympic Gold and Bronze medallists from London 2012. However due to an ankle injury Alistair was unable to take part in all three disciplines so Jonathon competed alone against his brother’s relay team “Team Alistair” which consisted of Alistair doing the bike leg and two lucky amateurs James McCormack and Mark Young who were given the chance of a life time to swim and run on his behalf, both receiving huge support from the watching crowd. You really can't comprehend how fast someone who runs at 20kmph is until they run past you. Put it this way from far left to far right was about the same as the shutter lag on the camera....

As could probably be predicted Jonathon triumphed in a time of 32:38 with his brother’s relay team coming in fourth overall with a time of 34:20

 

I was in the second wave after them so didn't have time to watch who crossed the finish line first as I had to battle into my own wetsuit and go to my swim brief.

......head to toe rubber is SUCH an attractive look, living in Scarborough Goddaughter is under the impression this is normal swimming gear

.....the 1pm "white wave" getting the safety brief and trying not to get distracted by Rhys Davey,

"If I raise my hand do you jump in after me!?"

Cougar moment over it's time to get in, I've been gradually working my way up the pack this year..... doing breaststroke! No idea where I am with regards freestyle but as lots of the ladies were looking very nervous and not in any great hurry to get into the water, I decided to take the psychological advantage and take the plunge first.

 

The water was COLD much more so than expected, but at least it didn't taste stagnant. The fact that it is flowing through rather than sitting there warming up meant it wasn't half as foul as expected but it was possibly the coldest I've been in the water this year. They didn't post the water temperature and it was wisely wetsuit compulsory, I'm guessing it was in the mid teens as it definitely felt on a par with the swim I did in May .....in gloves and boots! By about half way to the second buoy I'd lost the feeling in my hands and feet, had zigzagged in the direction of the bank a couple of times, been swum over and past by more people than usual but was somehow still not at the back. Then I got lucky and found myself behind a slightly faster much straighter swimmer. Deciding this was my ticket to at least the third buoy I settled into her slipstream and tried to concentrate on getting some rhythm into my stroke. Focusing on her feet and the bubbles just behind them stopped me thinking about lake monsters and weed entanglement and having checked a couple of times that she was doing most of the hard work and staying on track I was able to relax a bit. The temptation is to just switch off but then you run the risk of being taken with them if they go off course. As we rounded the third buoy some of the girls were starting to fade a bit, either they'd gone out too quick, they didn't have the endurance or the cold was new to them. Either way as we were now on the home straight I decided it was time to cut the tow ropes and go it alone. Coming into the last buoy we discovered that perhaps the dredger had missed a fairly big patch of lake vegetation which required a quick trip to my mental "happy place" but the finish line was almost within reach.

....funnily enough the "vegetation" was right about where this photo was taken, although grateful they had removed the small mountain of it piled up on the bank!

 

I swam right into the exit ramp past girls wallowing about trying to exit too early. Made sure I had my footing before standing up then looked up at the less welcome sight of the seemingly vertical "surprise hill" they'd put between the swim exit and transition. Great, at least battling out of a wet suit is a fairly good excuse for not running up the bloody thing in it's entirety but it's not really what you want before the section of the race you are dreading most this time round. It wasn't just me that struggled, transition (T1) usually takes a minute/minute and a half, less if you really practice, it took me four and most people were taking more than five.

As was the case last time, even though I was not the fastest swimmer or the best runner of hills, I found myself leaving transition well before some of the girls who got there before me. Running out with my cleats digging into the mud was fun though and trying to engage my pedal on a 50kmph decent with a large amount of mud and grass attached to the bottom of my shoe was a reminder that I REALLY need to get to grips with the advanced method of elastic bands and bare feet.

Fortunately when I got to the bottom of the hill I discovered that they had in fact covered the cattle grids with large wooden boards which although they applied a fairly big wake up jolt were much less of an issue than the last time I'd been down here. Remembering just before hitting them that I had meant to come down and have a quick recce before the start but had become distracted and not a little star struck so had forgotten. Legs seemed ok and I was starting to settle into the race as I cycled out of Studley Rodger onto the main road and the start of the 2km ascent. Three quarters of the way up either the cold of the swim, the adrenalin, the hill or more than likely breaking my 1hr before rule led to me loosing half my pre race powerade over the side of my bike. A reminder to the girl behind me that this was a non drafting race for a reason.... More serious was I inhaled some of it which when I don't have great lungs anyway was a potential issue. I stopped with a foot on the grass verge for a second to clear my lungs, recover my legs and have a quick swig from my water bottle. Deciding I needed to "man up" and get my head down I pushed off again. When I got to the top I saw that I wasn't the only casualty, someone was on the grass verge having fallen off and someone else was trying to reattach a chain. The volunteer marshals on the bike route were great, really supporting us as we got to the top of the hill and making sure we were on the right side of the road on the decent.

As I rounded the tight corner by St Mary's church without issue I settled back in my seat for what I knew needed to be a "fast as you dare" decent. My fingers hovered near my brake levers and my neck muscles ached as I let my bike run to the limit of what I could control while looking ahead for loose deer and spectators. A couple of people saw how fast I was going and really shouted as I went past. Annoyingly my slightly temperamental bike computer decided it wasn't going to work so I don't know how fast I was actually going. I'm guessing it was at least as fast as my practice lap which was 50/51kmph which is around 30mph. It doesn't seem that fast in a car and I'm not advising you to put your head out of the sun roof to find out but I can assure you on two wheels it is fast enough. It's also going to hurt a lot if you get it wrong.

First lap over; my legs had started to recover, they seemed to get their second wind and this time the hill seemed easier, there was no puking this time at any rate. I managed a quick drink at the top of the hill (again something I need to practice more) and an energy cube that I'd taped to my top tube. As I came down the hill this time; I was moderating my speed and looking for the transition entrance, missing it would have been disastrous. "Bike in" negotiated safely and feet out before hitting the dismount line it was time to park my bike. Somebody less considerate had pretty much parked their bike over the top of my area but my shoes etc. were still in place. I racked my bike, swapped my shoes, grabbed my visor and bottle and set off. It took me a few seconds to see the "run out", I clocked the direction a couple of others were running in first. I was familiar with the run route having walked it a couple of weeks before. What I hadn't anticipated was the long steep grassy slope that having run up it from the swim, we now had to run down it for the run. I've been building my minimalist running technique all year and while for racing I've swapped my Saucony Hattoris for the slightly more forgiving Saucony Virratas they certainly let you know about every lump and bump on the uneven ground. I'm really prone to turning my ankles over and was really conscious of this on the decent. Downhills are also quite tough on your already screaming quads and not wanting to crash out now I took it steady. It was certainly more of a trot than a run but I got down in one piece and once round the edge of the lake was onto the safer hard surface. I knew there was a long public run in at the end and I really didn't want to run out of steam before then so probably in hindsight I took the run a bit too steady in the early stages. I'm not yet there with the run and with triathlon you're always going to be starting it with tired legs so actually it probably needs to be your strongest discipline or at least the one you work on most. I've come back from a big injury and am very conscious that while I've come a long way with it I need to remain patient and take it slowly so I can build my endurance in a consistent hopefully injury free way. It is coming but it's going to take time so I'm ok with the fact I had to run/walk part of the course. I'm running longer stretches than I was in July so I know it's getting there and I am keeping in mind that my goals are not for others to judge. I want to build a really good platform with correct technique and muscle recruitment, not just crash ahead and end up injured again so what you see now in terms of "performance" wont be the same as next year when I've had more time. I hopefully wont be one of the huge percentage of runners who end up injured and quitting early on in their "career". Running is hard, it's hard on your body and it's hard mentally. If you have a weakness either physically, technically or mentally it will find it and make you pay for your poor preparation. That said I did OK, I wasn't quick but I managed to run all the way into the finish from the top of the last incline as planned. I maybe didn't get the early pacing right but that's something to work on. MOST importantly it was just about pain free both during and thanks in part to a recovery zone massage I didn't suffer too much afterwards. It's a LONG way from where I was at 6mths ago when I could only run once a week and was crippled with hip pain and muscle spasms.

My PT and my physio have worked nearly as hard as me to make that happen and I am really grateful to them for their patience, skill and support. They've also kept me believing it would come right and that I had to just stick with it and be patient. Without them I know I would have got frustrated and probably given up.

 



I finished in 1hr 11mins, half as fast as Jonny Brownlee so pretty sure I'm not going to Rio anytime soon but the point is I finished.

 

.....the race tattoos took longer to remove than the race!

 

My sporting endeavours this year are not just a sign of an impending mid life crisis, as you can just about see from my T-Shirt they have also been to raise awareness and funds for Rotary International's End Polio Now campaign. Most of the events I’ve chosen have been water based as polio is mostly spread through contaminated water. I first became involved with Rotary’s End Polio campaign on a national immunisation day while I was volunteering for various children's projects in Nepal. What I saw in Nepal was a big influence in becoming a member of Rotary when I returned and it has been a huge privilege to be part of so many projects that make a difference both locally and internationally.

You can sponsor my events and support End Polio Now in the process here:

Please Support Me and Help Rotary End Polio

Clean water is something we take for granted in the UK and Polio is something that through immunisation has largely been forgotten. When I was in Nepal I had to train myself out of using tap water to wash my hands because there was such a high chance of it being contaminated. Not something that comes easy as a trained nursery nurse or when you are working with children with HIV and other infections. Rotary has done an amazing job of vaccinating more than 2.5 Billion children worldwide with the number of cases dropping by 99% since we started but it’s something we have to see through to the finish or it will come back. Only three countries, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria still have endemic Polio, but sadly this year there have been recent outbreaks in Kenya(14), Ethiopia(1) and Somalia (163) with a global total so far of 256. Vaccinators have encountered violence and threats with some tragically having lost their lives. Women are now leading the efforts in Pakistan even though they know they face huge risks. It makes running the odd triathlon or two seem insignificant in comparison.

The infrastructure set up to allow the eradication of polio to be so close has also allowed other vaccination programmes to be rolled out in it's wake meaning even when this disease is finished, and we will finish it, children worldwide will carry on benefitting.

 

Nice of the boys to coordinate their look, also think I managed to disguise the smell of puke and errr post race pizza, fortunately they are much taller than expected so think I got away with it, Jonny is not looking happy about the fact he is now only twice as fast as me but he's got all winter to work on that! ;-)

 

In 20112 I helped to establish the Knaresborough Rotary Swimarathon which has to date raised almost £4500 half of which has gone to End Polio. You can get involved Saturday 22nd Feb 2014 if you're feeling inspired! We're on twitter @Kn_Rotary or check our Website nearer the time.

You can also support World Polio Day 24th October 2013, find out more at Rotary End Polio Now

 

So that's it for this year! No idea what I'm going to do to top it next year as this year has been pretty amazing so I'll leave you with this little bit of Rock Tape inspiration:

 

"A goal is a dream with a deadline"

 

Thanks go to:

Jonathan Rebanks at Knaresborough Physiotherapy

http://www.knaresboroughphysiotherapy.co.uk/

Nathan Garnham at B-Physical 

http://www.b-physical.com/

 



A Little French Diversion......

 

So it's holiday time; what most people do is get on a plane, lay on a beach, stretch their livers to the limit on the all inclusive bar and then limp back home to recover their hangovers, shed their peeling skin and start saving for next year.....

....but by popular opinion I'm not "most people"

My Requirements: Somewhere sunny, something to swim in, at least the opportunity to not eat crap all week and well that's pretty much it.

Physio's Requirements: "You need to get away, don't do anything stupid....."

The Answer: A week in France.....

Me: "I'm going to France via Switzerland for a week. Also I might be going to the Lake District for the weekend...... "

Physio "Oh nice...."

Me "Ummm there might be this little French swim thing that happens to be the same week.....  AND I'd quite like to do a training session with Triathlon England in Lake Windermere.
So can you please make my shoulder work.....?"

Physio *puts head in hands*

Anyway as usual physio and Rock Tape do their best to patch me up before one of them swans off to Portugal and the other get's packed for France.

First day of "holiday" finds me waking up in a strange bed, peering out the curtains and discovering, miraculously, it's not actually raining in Cumbria!? Well with that piece of news anything is possible, including finding myself climbing the stairs to a room branded "Triathlon England" and being met half way down by a formidable athlete who looks like "Triathlon England" all on her own :-/ After briefly considering running back to the car park, I conclude that the woman with the iron grip is more than capable of chasing me down, throwing me over her shoulder and returning me to the classroom taking the steps three at a time so it would probably be better to walk into the room of my own volition.
I'll admit that the voice in my head was at this point shouting "WHAT are YOU doing HERE!?"
While trying not to appear like I was talking to my alter ego I kept telling myself "You're here to get better." Not mentally I might add, there's no hope of that, better at swimming apparently.

The course was actually fantastic, initial nerves over, there was lots of great advice, it was not that scary having found I probably had at least as much experience as everyone else, in some cases having actually done a couple of races I had more.
I've been looking at transitioning to freestyle for well, most of this year. I'd just not done a huge amount about it. I'd just about decided to do free for the last triathlon in July but then the freakishly warm weather saw us landed with a wetsuit ban so not wanting to cripple my legs entirely I reverted back to the tried and tested old faithful breaststroke. I know for the most part I'm "good enough" with breaststroke; it sees me in the middle of the pack, swimming in a straight line, not traumatised by having my face in with the fish for 10mins and not too knackered for the next two disciplines, the second of which being my weakest. It's not worth saving a minute or so by using free but exiting the water totally spent for the bike when in theory by improving my running I can knock off about 5mins. So it's a dilemma.
Lesson 1: Sculling face down in the lake with my face in with the fish, seriously trying to find my "happy place"
It can only get better right!? Well yes but while the lessons get psychologically easier the weather decides to give us a run for our money. We're advised that if we intend to compete in England then actually the 20ft high waves are "typical conditions for an English lake" so we might as well get used to it. Train hard race easy and all that.
They later admit that it's the worst conditions they've run one of these training sessions in but we survived and felt stronger for it.

The open water training sessions run by swim smooth for Triathlon England are not just for triathletes but they are mostly aimed at freestylers although I was told that the novices session was aimed at all abilities. We all really learnt a lot in a supportive environment and it was a great experience. Upcoming dates can be found on the triathlon England website. Taking part also means I now own one of these.......

........which is usually enough to clear the swim lane of muggles

Second scary thing this "holiday" is that this arrived in the post:

Who on earth saw fit to issue ME with one of these!?

 

It's part of my mission to finally accept that I am now a triathlete and that it's OK to use the word athlete in a sentence with my name in it ........but lets face it, it's also a bit of added bling which does have some advantages. One it covers your liability insurance while training and racing, so if like one of my friends just did you crash into a stationary car while blinded by the sun you're covered for the damage. Two it also means you don't need to pay day registration at events ....but it does kind of imply you're planning to do about 10 events in the next 12mths to justify it cost wise. The main reason I have one however is that it also covers you to race abroad and was a requisite of the French swim (that or a Drs note) and my French is rubbish. I didn't want to fork out 50+euros for a French Dr to sign me fit to swim or £10 for an English one to. It saves trying to translate the English Drs note in my terrible French while stood in a registration line with a lot of impatient French swimmers behind me. It also looks cool in my wallet.... Ok not a valid reason but it does ;-)

 

Third Scary thing was an email that started:

 

Registration confirmation

Name: Miss Sarah Bosomworth
Event: Traversée du Lac d'Annecy à la Nage
Category: 1000m / Traversée découverte

Followed by a lot of stuff in French that only made slightly more sense having been cut and pasted into Google Translate.

 

Right so off to France we go........

It occurred to me at the last minute that doing a cross lake swim was all well and good but doing it on your own how were you meant to get your clothes from one side to the other!? My French extends about as far as "Où sont mes vêtements!?" Several suggestions included towing them behind me but being health and safety minded decided I would probably get disqualified or entangle some French champion and end up on the French 6 0'clock news.

"Formidable", a minor problem, we wont worry about that till err Thurday morning :-/

 

 

The morning of the swim was cool but clear, the lake was a whopping 24DegC but getting up at 6.30am (5.30amGMT) reminded me why I wasn't a competitive swimmer anymore.

 

I gesticulated to the French woman at what turned out to be the finish line rather than registration that I would like to acquire my swim cap "Je voudrais un bonnet" while pointing at my head. After claiming she spoke English but then being fooled by my Yorkshire English the response was something like "Là *points repeatedly at far shore* fou dame anglaise"

 

I managed to find the entrance to the private beach (Where the big white towers are) in front of the Hotel Imperial (Plage de l’Impérial). The gates were open, they allow free access to swimmers for the start (La départ), another piece of information you may wish to translate on google was

"Les vestiaires servant uniquement de lieu pour se déshabiller..." incase it occurred to you to do something else!

A fairly critical piece of information was:

"Une navette sera proposée pour les transports de matériel jusqu’au site d’arrivée et ce sans aucune garantie quant à la valeur des marchandises transportée....." Clearly used to unaccompanied mad English women after doing it 82 times, it turns out they provide a van at the entrance gate to transport your bag to the finish line which you can collect from a "transition" style barrier area after you get your t-shirt, prunes, piece of chocolate, coffee and bottle of water "Tres Bon!"

After putting my race license to the test for the first time, I received my swim cap and timing chip, which apparently has to go on your LEFT wrist (poignet gauche) or you will get repeatedly told off in French until you change it. You also need to find one of the club members with a marker pen to mark your shoulder and left hand with your number. Tip: Put wetwipes in your bag in order to remove marker pen at the finish or the sun will leave you branded with the number 1139 on your shoulder for much longer than intended....

Most people did the 1000m swim in swimming costumes, a couple in wetsuits and a couple like me in tri suits. I was not in contention to win so it wasn't that critical, there are FINA rules which may apply, if in doubt a normal swimsuit is best, 24degC really isn't cold.

 

 
 

The "Traversee du lac D'Annecy" is allegedly the biggest open water swim of it's kind in France and there were around 1400 or so swimmers in total, 509 of which registered for the 1000m crossing. Most swimmers were French, most were swim club members, some were elite, some were just having fun but what we all had in common was we were doing it for the love of the sport. It's easily one of the most stunning venues I've been too so that "love" was not hard to find.
Not having spoken French for the err 20 or so years since my GCSEs however it made the safety brief fairly irrelevant. Something about "put your hand in the air if you think you're about to die and put your bag on the minibus over there...." (Clothing problem solved 15mins before the swim!) was about all I got. I also decided that directions were irrelevant as there was more than likely going to be a few hundred people in front of me to follow. Aim for the castle/ water jets/ right side of the island if you find yourself at the front! Not entirely sure the French H&S person had "Les nageurs anglais" on his risk assessment. There were however several girls with helium balloons tied to the back of their swim suits and a dog swimming so probably the "European approach" to H&S applies here!
There were four races 500m 1000m 2400m and 5000m with the 500m children's race and the 5000m Arena cup race requiring you to be FFN/FINA registered.

......2nd and 3rd being fought for in the 2400m

 

.....the finish line behind the island of swans

 

You can take a look at the 2013 race on YouTube here:

2013 Lake Annecy Crossing 

......there must be easier ways to get a "free" T-Shirt

 

Just to give you an idea, I came 398th in 24mins38secs (non wetsuit / breaststroke) but the 16yr old winner did it in 11mins16sec and the top ten finishers were separated by about 5secs. So surrounded by those guys and considering I was supposed to be using it as a "long training session" rather than a race having not tapered or really trained up to that distance, I was happy not to have come last  .....I also beat the dog!

It's a really beautify part of the world if you get chance to visit and a fantastic well run swim event.

The event has been held annually on the 15th August since 1931, this year being the 82nd time it's taken place. You can register online from the beginning until the 11th of Aug with active Europe and the cost was 18euro. It may also be an idea to brush up on your French before you go!
If you are considering taking part then take a look at the Annecy Dolphins website:
http://abcnatation.com/natation/dauphine-savoie/74/annecy/
and their Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Travers%C3%A9e-du-lac-dAnnecy/128381117279297?fref=ts

 

OK Jolly over, someone mentioned somewhere that a month today I'll be "competing in the Brownlee Tri" so time to get back at it! 

 

 

Cometh the hour, cometh the (wo)man.........

All the planning, research, training, treatment and stressing finally culminated in a 4 hour drive to the home of British Olympic rowing, well actually a friend's house in Slough for the last supper night. She let me take over the kitchen to make some attempt at "serious athlete" food (brown rice, salmon and broccoli) use her internet for last minute facebook updates, sprawl all over the garden stretching and gave me the coolest room in the house to sleep in while everyone else baked upstairs.

 

Not that there was an awful lot of sleeping done that night. The nerves were back and so was the lack of self belief. Logically I knew I could do it. It was only a 200m swim - I'd just done an 800m one. It was only a 5km bike on the flat - I'd been regularly training on 12-15km+ with the odd hill repeat and interval session thrown in. It was a 2.5km run, huge for me but I had finally hit a consistent, injury free training period and cleared 3km on the treadmill. I'd also been linking at least 2 disciplines together in training and for the most part gone further than required.

 

Logically I knew I could do it, logically.... but the human brain has a habit of forgetting logic at times like these. Every athlete knows there are days that with the best will in the world you just can't do it. Hormones, not getting your nutrition right, dehydration, over training or just a bad day at the "office" can affect everyone and it's not always predictable. It's now that being as strong in mind as you are in body makes all the difference. Having a race plan helps, having a check list helps, having things to do helps, having the right people around you and avoiding those who are not helps. Beware of social media - I love Twitter and Facebook as much as the next person but know that it can be your biggest friend or your worst enemy. People can be quick to celebrate your success but just as quick to make jibes and it's usually the latter that sit in the back of your mind and affect your ability to dig deep when it counts. If it's your first event you will have enough to do silencing your own doubts without silencing those of other people. It's OK to maintain a social media silence in the last few days if it helps, it's OK to put yourself first. You have to do what you need to do to remove distractions and quieten your mind.

Just make sure you thank the people who have helped you afterwards and know that those who have not probably have more doubts about their own abilities than they do about yours.

 

 ‘The hour cometh, and now is’ John 4:23

 

 

Sunday 14th July 2013 dawned and it was already warm by 8am, the sky was clear and it looked like being another scorcher of a day. We had breakfast, packed up and left for the lake. Knowing what a nightmare swim registration had been in May for those who turned up later, we planned to set off early but being in the last wave of the day there's always the dilemma of being too early. The aim of the day was to get there early enough to register, set up, relax, change and race without getting too hot, dehydrated, stressed or end up in a massive queue for registration/toilets/changing and with enough time to sort out any last minute emergencies (......like the tri suit you haven't tried on or the bike pump you haven't taped up etc.). Tip: Black electrical tape and scissors fixes almost anything! Including dodgy timing chips that look like they're going to fall off your skinny ankles! Make sure they're in your transition box.

 

Registration went without a hitch, timing chip firmly in hand, stickers applied to bike and helmet, transition area set up, a couple of hours relaxing on the grass discussing whether we could get away with just telling people I'd done it so I didn't have to go through with it and it was finally time to get changed.....

 

The water was a toasty 21.8DegC so effectively a wet suit ban, (Triathlon rules state below 14DegC wetsuits are compulsory 14-22DegC optional and 22DegC+ is a ban) some people did battle into one which I suppose if you're a nervous swimmer they help but they take much longer in transition and in 32DegC sunny conditions they will dehydrate you. It made the swim more interesting though. Wetsuits are often known as "the equaliser" because they allow weaker swimmers to keep up with stronger swimmers and they generally allow everyone to rest their legs a bit due to the floatation. A few people like me chose to switch strokes and do breaststroke rather than doing their weaker free which without the aid of a wetsuit would have left them exhausted starting the bike. I know from two previous swim events that my breaststroke is strong enough to put me in the middle of the pack regardless so it's been my stroke of choice but because this swim was only a quarter of what I'd done previously I had been considering trying out free.  

 

There's no where to hide in a tri suit and it was too hot to wear another top although I did lay my cycling top out over my handle bars in case I changed my mind. People really don't care though, there were all shapes and sizes taking part and at the end of the day it's about achievement, it's not a runway on Britain's next top model. What I love about the three Human Race events I've done so far is that they're really supportive events. This one was women's only and you might expect an element of bitchiness and maybe in the changing rooms there was an element of that or maybe it was just people keeping calm by keeping to themselves. I like to talk to total strangers, especially if I'm nervous so they probably just thought I was some weirdo from the barren wastelands north of the Watford Gap. Out on the field everyone was being cheered over the line and shouting encouragements to each other on the run. One girl saw I was struggling a bit with my breathing coming up to the half way point on the run as we'd had to run out into a fairly significant head wind which was also hot, dry and dusty. I don't have a great lung capacity and was struggling to get any ventolin on board. I'd forgotten the tip about squeezing the edge of the cup and stopping to drink and had choked on the teaspoon of water I'd not managed to pour down my front. She ran with me for a couple of minutes saying out loud her mantra of "just keep it going, nice steady pace" by which point we'd rounded the half way point, the head wind became a tail wind and psychologically the end was now in sight and she ran on. This act of selflessness is something you see often in this sport. We go out to compete, to better our PBs but at the end of the day we're all in it together. The wind and the heat become something we're all competing against and that pulls us all together. We've all been nervous the first time we dived into open water so we can all sympathise with the newbie clutching the wetsuit in 32deg heat. There does seem to be an ethos of wanting to compete on a level playing field that you don't seem to see in other sports. A kind of old fashioned sportsmanship.

This was no better demonstrated than during the elite women's race in Hamburg yesterday (20/7/13) Anne Haug; series leader and under immense pressure to win in front of a home crowd was being hounded by the two Brits Non Stanford and Jodie Stimpson on the run leg. The conditions were not unlike last weekend and the women were suffering in the heat. Stimpson missed her water at the feed stand as the two British girls pushed to stay a breast of Haug. Instead of pushing her advantage in the heat, in an act of huge generosity and sportsmanship Haug drank from her water bottle before passing it back to Stimpson.

Haug went on to win in an epic 800m sprint to the finish with Stanford close behind to take second and Stimpson taking third. With all three women having won races this year and with the pressure to win this one being squarely on Haug it would have been easy for her to see winning as everything but as Stimpson later commented "at the end of the day we're team mates". Haug herself had been on the receiving end of someone else's selflessness earlier in the race with fellow countryman Svenja Bazlen allowing her to draft as she worked her way through the peloton saving her vital energy for the run. A fact she graciously acknowledged at the finish.

The display of sporting ethics that these women displayed yesterday are an example to all of us and maybe we should be encouraging our kids to watch them rather than some of the questionable antics of those who usually grace the sports pages.  

Go Girls!!!!

 

 As we waited for our wave to enter the water people were chatting nervously about various fat bits not being conducive to tri suit wearing and how cold the water was going to be. The two waves in front of us were already in the water as they acclimatised and waited for the klaxon.

Seeing what "only 8 lengths" looks like laid out one after the other is a little disconcerting but something I was now used to. Anyone who says to you "it's only eight lengths" should first see what that looks like and then swim it before they repeat it.

The stones were sharp under foot as we entered and I took two steps before deciding to just make a dive for it, the less unnecessary foot contact with anything remotely slimy the better! (TIP: The opposite is true on the exit, try and swim as far in as possible because walking through even calf deep water will be unnecessarily tiring.) The water was not at all cold, I needn't have worried, it turns out that 22deg is a very sensible temperature to get rid of wetsuits. The difference 7degrees makes is huge!

I decided that I was not going to hang around the back on this one, that without wetsuits I was strong enough to be nearer the front. The klaxon sounded and all of a sudden I was in a washing machine of white water that was difficult to get purchase on. I knew this would pass and that after a couple of minutes the field would spread out. I didn't have a great swim leg, I got pinned in between and behind a couple of people doing free that were a little bit slower than me but couldn't get past them. I cornered well and stayed on track. Exiting the water without staggering and falling on my face was also an added bonus. There was also a lot more "lake weed" than in May which seemed to entangle itself round my forearm with every stroke, luckily I am also becoming desensitised to people swimming behind me touching my feet with every stroke, at least there was no ankle grabbing this time! (Tip Vaseline or body glide the OUTSIDE of your lower leg to prevent this if you're feeling very competitive.)

I ran (yes RAN!) into transition, found my bike straight away (..which for someone who regularly struggles to find their car on exiting the supermarket was an achievement!) glasses on, helmet on and fastened, shoes on, (decided I wasn't quite ready for the elastic band thing yet which was a good choice as it was a fairly tight corner out, Marc Jenkins also said this was best for first timers and he should know!) race belt on, number to the back and ran out pushing my bike by the saddle like a pro in 1min44seconds. It surprised me how long it seemed to take some people, people who had exited the swim before me were still in transition as I left.

I had a great bike leg, the heat was not so much of an issue but the head wind going out had me breathing like a freight train by the time I saw the photographer at the half way point. I did clock him early enough to pretend I'd been on my tri bars the whole way round..........

 

 

I didn't do it in the sub 12mins I was aiming for but I didn't get overtaken and with the wind was happy with 12mins 35sec.

I skidded to an ungraceful halt in front of the dismount line and ran through transition, I realised I should have worked out how to rack my bike the other way round but as it was still upright crossed my fingers, unclipped my helmet, put it down, swapped it for a sun visor (well worth it last min panic buy from wiggle...) and grabbed my trainers. Nobody tells you that perhaps the most challenging part of a triathlon is standing on one very shaky post bike leg to pull on your close fitting minimalist trainers even if they do have elastic laces..... Would probably have made it out in 30seconds if it hadn't been for the minute it took to do that! T2 cleared in 1.32 it was time to psyche myself up for the run. I grabbed my water bottle, I'd put some carb drink in it, yanked at the never been used valve as I ran out of T2 and the valve came clean off! Sports drink then splashed up my arm as I ran and dried instantly in the blazing sun. Luckily there was a water stand at the start of the run so I ditched the bottle, choked on some water and washed the sports drink off as I ran through the sprinkler system they'd set up to cool us down (....or more likely stop the tarmac melting!) My hamstrings were screaming, my quads felt like jelly, I made a mental note to not disregard bricks as something only pro triathletes do, I got about a quarter of the way out and the wind started to deplete my lungs of moisture. I'd also disregarded the plan to hydrate on the bike leg, in this short race I just about got away with it but this is something I need to practice, as is drinking on the run. I really didn't want to walk at the end and knew that once I turned round on the half way point it would get easier, the wind would be behind me and I would be able to see the finish. I ran/walked the second quarter using lamp posts and marker buoys to run two walk one, I also tucked in behind another girl and focused on her feet to take my mind off my own legs and shield myself from some of the wind. I forgot that coming off the bike it's important to straighten up through the pelvis to compensate for the hunched over hip flexor tightening position on the bike and noticed from some pictures later that my foot position had reverted back to being turned out and rolling in. I know what a lot of my run weaknesses are and I also know that I've not had a long enough consistent training period for good technique to have become embedded yet so that when I am tired it reverts back to it's default pattern. With running more than anything else I know I have to be patient, that I need to keep telling myself it will come. A year ago I couldn't run 1km on the treadmill never mind 3. When moaning to my trainer that running is by far my weakest discipline he just said to me "But how long have you been doing the other two!?" and he's right, I've been swim training for a year and a half, cycling for a year and road biking for 6mths. Because I injured my hip at Christmas pushing too hard too fast I've only really been running for a couple of months and only twice a week to allow enough recovery time and for my body to adapt to new stresses while I adjust my position and strengthen my feet in minimalist shoes. I've come a long way in a short period of time and I need to remember that, not allow myself to compare where I am now to what other people can do or allow others to judge me without knowing what I am trying to achieve.

16mins34 is not fast, I wouldn't pass a military basic fitness test but I finished, I came out of it with no major injuries and I was not last.

One great tip is to take advantage of any on site sports massage/physio afterwards. Even if you don't like massage they can usually help you stretch out without getting naked, especially if you have a 4hr drive back to God's own county. I could feel my TFL starting to spasm and sitting in a car for a long time was not going to help, so for a tenner one of the physio's spent 20mins stretching out my hip which I need and they can take further than you can on your own. Lots of people were getting their calves done but the calf guards had done their job and for me they were ok. I downed a chocolate milk recovery drink, stretched, drank lots of water and ate a slightly warm greek yoghurt with a fork (....because for all I had managed to pack everything but the kitchen sink, a spoon had not made it!) which with the addition of a banana (I draw the line at hot, semi liquid bananas!) is my general recovery plan. Sometimes (if I'd been organised enough) I add a sachet of cherry active to the water because post exercise antioxidants are important (a pack of blueberries would also work - eat them, don't add them to your water obviously!). Although the temptation is to lay on the grass, walking around or even cycling gently back to the car all help to reduce the lactic acid build up. Unless you're balancing your transition box on your handle bars and the car is 2km away in which case walking is fine.

 

Overall I finished 48th out of 124 with a time of 38.05 I was 10th in my age group and 18th on the bike. I now get to call myself a Triathlete, job done, onwards and upwards.