Jase and I did a recce of the course the day before the race, we checked out T1 & T2 and the swim course; we cycled the run course and drove the bike course. The bike course looked fast and undulating, whilst the first half of the run looked uphill with the second half flat or downhill. With good weather forecast this was looking like a good opportunity for a fast race!
Race day arrived and we were up early. The race started at 6:45, whilst our wave was due to start at 7:30. Before we knew it, it was time for the race brief (see right, less chatting more listening perhaps!). It was a beach start (no sand, just pebbles, ouch!) and we were off into the cold water off the Jurassic coastline. The sea was very shallow, and whilst some people were swimming, others were walking out to the first buoy! Jase decided he wanted to get to the front so went out hard (see him below at the front in his blue and white wetsuit), others followed and I settled into my own pace.
The swim seemed long and sighting was quite difficult at times as some of the turn buoys were 
quite small. Anyway, I swam on, trying to find some decent feet to swim onto to, unfortunately I spent most of the swim on my own, only being able to draft some decent feet for about 300m or so. I swam into shore and stood up and looked at my watch, it said 34-something. I was ok with that considering I had been swimming on my own and the sighting had been difficult. Now it was time to "run" up the painful pebble beach (ouch, ouch!), up the 2 flights of stairs, across one tennis court and into T1. Swim done!
T1 was uneventful (after donning my new aero helmet), however on exiting T1 and jumping onto the Stealth (see right), I proceeded to kick off one of my rear mounted water
bottles. As there was no feed stations on the bike leg, I had to jump off, retrieve my bottle and crack on! The bike course was, as predicted, fast. Undualting and very rolling, the course proved to be a hard one. Out on the bike I paced it on feel (RPE), I didn’t wear my HR monitor, I decided to race on average speed, whilst monitoring my power. I didn’t race to power, but monitored the power reading in the background. I would say that I pushed it on the bike, but definitely wasn’t at my max effort; I was working hard but always had another gear available if required.
quite small. Anyway, I swam on, trying to find some decent feet to swim onto to, unfortunately I spent most of the swim on my own, only being able to draft some decent feet for about 300m or so. I swam into shore and stood up and looked at my watch, it said 34-something. I was ok with that considering I had been swimming on my own and the sighting had been difficult. Now it was time to "run" up the painful pebble beach (ouch, ouch!), up the 2 flights of stairs, across one tennis court and into T1. Swim done!T1 was uneventful (after donning my new aero helmet), however on exiting T1 and jumping onto the Stealth (see right), I proceeded to kick off one of my rear mounted water
bottles. As there was no feed stations on the bike leg, I had to jump off, retrieve my bottle and crack on! The bike course was, as predicted, fast. Undualting and very rolling, the course proved to be a hard one. Out on the bike I paced it on feel (RPE), I didn’t wear my HR monitor, I decided to race on average speed, whilst monitoring my power. I didn’t race to power, but monitored the power reading in the background. I would say that I pushed it on the bike, but definitely wasn’t at my max effort; I was working hard but always had another gear available if required. The run was a 2 lap run, each lap had one very, very long shallow climb, with a similar descent on the back half of the route. On the first lap I took it steady, not easy, but steady. Again I paced it on feel, I didn’t use a GPS/pace watch, I just ran as I felt. It was a hot day, so I took on water at all of the aid stations and I consumed 3 gels during the run. I think I completed the first lap in approx 45 mins, so I hoped to run a similar (slightly slower) time for the second lap. The second lap of the run was harder due to the heat and the accumulated fatigue, I ran the second lap in a similar time
, but my effort level was much higher on the second lap. As you can see from the picture on the right at the end of the run I was finished, spent, I had nothing left!
, but my effort level was much higher on the second lap. As you can see from the picture on the right at the end of the run I was finished, spent, I had nothing left!I crossed the line in a time of 4:37:00. I was over the moon! 2 years ago I did this race in 5:20, I knocked nearly 45 minutes off! My splits were: swim plus T1: 37:06, bike plus T2: 2:29:02 and run: 1:30:52.
A quick thank you to Helen at Ten-Point (http://www.ten-point.co.uk/) for sorting out my race kit very quickly. The Fusion gear worked great in the heat, great compression shorts and leg tubes, they definately helped with the recovery. I was trialling TORQ nutrtional products too (http://www.torqfitness.co.uk/), and they were awesome! I now have my nutrition dialled in ready for IM Regensburg in August.
A big thank you to Team Whittle (you know who you are!) for all the support and encouragement over the course of the weekend. I couldn’t have done it without you!
A quick thank you to Helen at Ten-Point (http://www.ten-point.co.uk/) for sorting out my race kit very quickly. The Fusion gear worked great in the heat, great compression shorts and leg tubes, they definately helped with the recovery. I was trialling TORQ nutrtional products too (http://www.torqfitness.co.uk/), and they were awesome! I now have my nutrition dialled in ready for IM Regensburg in August.
A big thank you to Team Whittle (you know who you are!) for all the support and encouragement over the course of the weekend. I couldn’t have done it without you!
4 comments:
Great race Frank, very well done, brilliant improvement over the last 2 years. So what if the white kit isn't the 'coolest' look, the results are effective.
Recover well now.
Nice one Frank great time. Looking good. Well, lean and mean and all that. Not so sure about the shorts though. :-) Not too long to the IM now.
Very well done!
Curious, you are looking very lean there - any of that down to PB?
K
Thanks guys!
Turbo, what do you mean white isn't cool? :-)
Neill, about 7 weeks to go, time to get serious now!
K, I don't do the PB thing persay, however before I read the book I did switch to a very non-processed diet with lots of lean meat, fruit and veg - so I guess that is Primal. After chatting with you though (again before I read the book, which I've not finished yet, sorry) I did cut out almost all the cereal/muesli for breakfast and instead now eat fruit/berries with Greek yoghurt (very nice!). And I eat rice and pasta very rarely, whereas before I did eat alot of pasta.
Thanks again guys!
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