First Cross Country Race, 7.5k - Dec 2012

Cross Country

December 2012

During the winter months Tri Sport Epping, my Triathlon club, enters the East Essex Cross Country League, and encourage all members to race in the 5 race series. So mid December I found myself heading off to Dunton at 7 in the morning, Anne and Rhiannon in tow, for my first cross country race since childhood.

I met the club runners, and looked at the huge variety of gear they were using. Long leggings, short leggings. All sorts of things. Headgear too. So I decided, much to Rhiannon’s amusement, to go for usual running shorts, running T shirt and the club running singlet over that, plus gloves, plus my snood. It was a definite 2 layer jobby.

Bit nippy to start with, but within 100m I had realised/remembered 4 things.

1. I was wearing exactly the right gear to be comfortable temperature wise.
2. I don’t like cross country when you have to run through mud and pools of standing water
3. People buy specialist cross country shoes for a reason
4. Drinking to excess on both Wed and Fri eves was not the best preparation for this.

Still, could have been worse.

I ran through the pool of water at the first turn OK, unlike a teammate who went head first into it. It was at the bottom of a steepish run down to it, and he carried too much speed.

Anyway, the legs started to come back, and barring the fact that my feet were slipping on every stride it was OK. My pace was fine. Then a blonde bombshell in her 20s ran past. Mr H was not happy, so upped the pace some more and overtook her. And promptly fell while turning at the next corner and sliding gracefully across the path.

Bad shoes. Up I get and carry on. Catch her up again, and decide that if I have to follow someone then she might as well be the one. We’re about halfway through this race now, and the recollection of drinking a second bottle of something with a mate at Bishopsgate Balls Bros comes flooding back. As does the fact that my legs are hurting.

And then it gets worse. I don’t mind too much that I’m hanging on to the BB because she’s early/mid 20s. But then a club runner runs past who has just celebrated her 60th. Right, suffering or no suffering, this just is not going to be allowed. I pick a tree in the distance and decide to up the pace to that tree and see what happens. What happened was that I got back to her shoulder. I rest, figuratively speaking. The the BB goes past again. I’m in a race! With 2 women, one almost old enough to be my mum, the other young enough to be my daughter. We have 2k to go, and I’m just behind the pair of them.

Being a typical male, I have to go past them by the finish no matter what. I know there is an incline coming, so decide to take it easy until that and then push. Right, we hit the bottom of it, and I accelerate. I go past them, and start to focus on a guy 50/100 m in front. My breathing gets laboured, but as I reach the top I can’t hear anybody around me so I am sure I’ve dropped them. I don’t look round to check, as the guy in front is from East Essex Tri, our great rivals. I push again, he gets a shout from a teammate close to the finish warning him I’m there. He can’t respond, so I take him on the line.

Jeez, I can’t breathe! And all that for finishing 114, out of 185.

The Swimmer - Nov 2012

The Swimmer

November 2012

Despite having grown up in North London I had never been to the Hampstead Pools, nor the Parliament Hill Lido. So when a friend showed me theswimmer.org, I jumped at the chance. Start at Hampstead pool, run to the Lido, then to the Serpentine, and finish with a longer run at Brockwell Lido. I run, I swim, and the distance is manageable. Admittedly the only open water swimming I've ever done was a couple of lakes during Triathlons wearing a wetsuit, and for this event it appeared swimming costumes was the apparel of choice. Then again it was also clear that the swims would be very short.

How hard could it be?

Will, the organiser, had helpfully sent through some tips on open cold water swimming. Dear reader, let me share a secret. Tips are useless when you first immerse yourself in what feels like sub-zero temperatures and yet the chalk board by the pool claimed was 8 degrees. Suddenly, something that you take for granted, namely breathing, becomes extremely difficult. Will was watching as I clung to the pontoon, concern written all over his face. “Long slow deep breaths, David” he reminded me. Whilst I wasn't so seized up that I'd forgotten that particular tip, actually following it proved impossible. So I pushed off anyway, swam 2 strokes, decided that a coronary during the first dip was a daft way to end the day, so went back to the ladder, and exited.

A group photo was called for on the next, higher, pontoon, after which we were all supposed to jump in. I did not.

The short run to Parliament Lido got me warmed up nicely, so I decided to brave the pool waters again in a swimming costume only. Same result as before. Oh well. At least I got to see this pool with its stunning stainless steel base.

So again I exited the pool, dried off, and left the changing rooms with deep admiration for the proper swimmers who seemed, amazingly, to actually enjoy the feeling of nether regions disappearing.

Next up was the group run to the Serpentine. It was excellent, and the view from the top of Primrose Hill made the dunkings worth it. A brief halt for the obligatory photos and then the run proper started.

The route was lovely, and the 15 runners split into 2 groups. During that run, whilst admiring the scenery, I made a decision – at the Serpentine the wetsuit would be worn.

And indeed it was, to the barely concealed scorn of the regular Serpentine swimmers. One in particular helpfully suggested to me as I was dragging it on that “you should try it without sometime”. So of course I had to reply, saying that that morning I'd already tried two open water swims and that I couldn't face a third. That mollified her slightly, but I was glad I didn't reveal the full extent of what I was describing as 'swum already at two pools'.

This time the swim went a little better. The cold was far easier to cope with. What wasn't easy to cope with was the taste of the Serpentine. I won't describe it, other than to say it had an........earthy feel to it. Yes, earthy will do. Mixed with duck.

Then I had to make another decision – do I run with the fast group to Brockwell Lido, or stop and have a cup of tea with the second, presumably slower group. Figuring that if I sat down for an extended time at that point I may not get going again, I joined in with the fast group. Would I keep up for the 6 miles, or would this North London boy get dropped in deepest darkest Sarf London? I'd be running through places that, I'm ashamed to say, I'd never visited despite having lived in London for close to 50 years. Well, yes, I did manage to keep up.

Being honest, though, that was probably mainly due to the kindness of Jonathan and Chris who looked to be running well within their limits. But towards the end I came to curse traffic lights. Stopping running at that point did mean there was a high risk of not being able to start again. I could feel the cramping beginning as we turned into Brockwell Park, but at that point I knew I was going to finish this thing.

Brockwell Lido looks amazing. Not going for a swim was simply not an option, so the wetsuit was donned again, and I entered the pool. I'd been told during the run by Katie, a devotee of open water swimming sans wetsuit, that my mental attitude was key to coping. I had to “embrace the cold”. So embrace it I did, and swam to the other end.

And still it hurt, my forehead of all things complaining bitterly. Still, it was better, the water was clean, so I asked Chris to take a few pictures with my camera. Then I asked him to take a short video of me swimming as I've never seen what I look like. All I know is that I seem to make a lot of effort without much speed.

But it was just as I finished doing my swim past that I realised that for the first time nothing was really hurting, nothing was telling me, no, screaming at me, to get out of the pool and to get dry. And I'll confess that did feel good.

The group then all got together in the Lido's cafe, where coffee, bacon rolls and assorted breakfasts were devoured. All had the satisfied glow of a challenge successfully completed. And yes, I call it a success despite my somewhat limited swims at the first two pools.

Hopefully there will be a next time, and who knows, I may actually “embrace the cold” properly. Or just start with a wetsuit.

Ibbo Cake Quest Sep 2012

Ibbo Cake Quest

September 2012

On a whim I entered the 2012 Ibbo Cake Quest. 3 distances – Fairy Cake – 60km. Carrot Cake – 110km. And the Fruit Cake at 160km. I chose the Carrot. Unexpectedly that turned out to be my hardest 2012 challenge yet. For the others I’ve done, like the triathlons, I always knew I could finish them, it was just a question of how well I’d do. Hence my targets of top quarter, or top half (depending on the event and the standard of competitors). But yesterday, towards the end, I wasn’t completely sure that I’d be able to complete it.

To explain, I should have brought my time trial bike, as my dad’s bike just doesn’t have low enough gears for some of the hills, and sadly I had to get off and walk the summit of two of them. It is a 5 speed bike from back in the 80s. For the second one, both my thighs were cramping up as I was trying to turn the pedals, and as I accepted defeat and got off to walk the last 50 yards my right calf stated to cramp. At that point I was just hoping that the walk, and the following downhill, would let me recover. Which it did, thankfully.

By then, too, the rain was chucking it down. Velominati.com Rules 5 and 9 applied in spades. On some of the hills as I pushed down on the pedal the back wheel just slipped round. That would be painful as I then crashed back to the saddle. The last part of the course was relatively flat, but there were now rivers of water coming down the road, which made life interesting. Either cars would spray you (though thankfully it seemed to be more people in front me that bore the brunt) or there’d be hidden potholes. I hit one quite hard 3 km from the end and just prayed it didn’t cause a puncture. It didn’t.

And please don’t quibble that as I walked a bit I didn’t do the whole ride. When I was pedalling so slowly due to the steepness, and the gear isn’t low enough, I was in severe risk of just falling off. Which isn’t clever with clipped in shoes! However, I will put it in the diary for 2013, and I will enter with a different bike, and I will aim to knock a minimum of an hour off my time.

And not walk the hills.

Olympic Triathlon Jul 2012

Gosfield Park Olympic Distance Triathlon

July 2012

I decided in the spring 2012 that after a year and a bit of sprint triathlons it was time to try and do an Olympic distance one. So I entered Gosfield Park -1500/40/10. The swim, as any of you who have seen me try, worried me. So last week I invested in a couple of one to one lessons at my local pool, where I discovered my head position is wrong, my core is not engaged, my breathing is forced, I don’t relax (I knew that one), my legs are wrong and my arms do too much work. Suggestions were made, which I tried to absorb. New tricks and old dogs sprang to mind.

Race report: I arrived and met up with Stuart and Sarah Mackintosh, and Steve Hunt from TSE. Good, friendly faces! I then discovered that for some reason I was in wave 3 of 3, about 40 swimmers per wave. Damn. I’ll be one of the last on the course. Weather was OK – cool, overcast, odd spot of rain. Get in the lake for my start, swim a few meters to get a feel, and immediately begin to wonder why I was there. A minute before the start I realise I’m on the start line, in the middle, with a load of swimmers behind me. Move rapidly to the side. Gun goes, we’re off. After 150m or so I realise there aren’t that many behind me and that I can’t swim straight. Correct my course. After 250 metres I begin to think that I can’t do it. I focus on my teacher’s tips re breathing, trying to think of nothing else. Until I remember to look up and realise I’m off course again.

I then get into a rhythm. Breathe in, hold, exhale, repeat. Sight the buoy after 10 strokes or so. Soonish it was time to turn around. I’m at the back, but not last. Focus on breathing. I don’t swim well technically, I realise. I’m not engaging my core. Start to try and focus on my legs, so mess up my breathing. Get back to basics, and relax, and breathe. Decide that the day was about completing 1500m and I couldn’t expect to hold technique too. Actually overtake some stragglers from the group ahead.

Almost before I know it I’ve finished, and realise that *I could have carried on*. This is a major breakthrough. Swim time 34 minutes.

Wobble to the bike, wetsuit off, helmet on, shoes on, race number on and head off on the bike. My target is to average over 30km/h for the 40km. Which I do – 30.3 to be exact. So take roughly 1hr20 for the ride.

Off the bike, running shoes on, and set off. It was a semi cross country course, with muddy paths in fields etc. I now have a problem. My legs are not too clever. Look at my watch, 10.5km/h. D@mn – hoping to start at over 11, as per my usual easy training speed. Keep pushing. D@mn mud, puddles, overhanging trees. Watch starts beeping – I’ve dropped to under 10km/h! Push again. Legs still feel not too clever. 2 laps of a course, and yes, felt like forever.

I keep pushing, and finishing line in sight at last. Put a *slight* sprint in. The run took about 58m. For 10k. Oh well, at least it’s a personal best.

So how did I do? The time was 2hr52’40”. Overall I came 66/87 finishers – 10 guys failed to complete the course that started. In my age group, 41 and over, I came 37/56. For just the swim I came 76/87! I’m chuffed I actually beat some other swimmers.

After the race Stuart, Sarah, Steve and myself met up, and devoured (only word for it) some fantastic burgers from the on-site burger van. Rarely has such a burger tasted as good as that.

So what did I learn? I can swim a decent distance, and once I put the lessons into my stroke without thinking I will be able to knock a significant time off my swim. Bike was good – I’m happy, with my current bike set up, with the speed. The run – well, I could have done better but only if I’d trained more!

Actually, isn’t that all our mantras? We could do better if we train more.........