A win!

Whooo hooo!!

I came first in my age category (40-50) at Berkhamsted Triathlon at the weekend, and 3rd female overall. £25 prize money in the bank!

It was a lovely race: the bike was on familiar country roads through Wigginton, Cholesbury and Tring. A little bumpy& gritty in places, but that's part of riding on Hertfordshire roads, and was expected. The run was lovely, once you got over the 1km uphill at the very start - but hey, from there, there were some lovely downhills, great views over rolling hills, and mostly on paths and trails. A second nasty hill on the run nearly reduced me to a walk, but I kept going. At a 5:12min per K pace, i was fairly happy.

The swim was a pool swim and the hardest bit was the turns as we had to duck under a lane rope at each second length. And I have just realised that for 400m we swam 16 lengths, meaning the pool must've been 20m, and more turns than usual! No wonder I was a little slower than expected.

Oddly, the night before the race I was feeling quietly confident: I suspected it might be a small event and the competition not too tough, but you never know until you're in it. You don't know how you'll feel on the day or who you're going to be up against. The stars just aligned on that day, and I'd like to think the training is paying off.

One thing I'm clear about is that at last my race running is getting easier on the legs and lungs, so much so that I also look forward to the run leg of the event! Freaky!

My first encounter of real parkrun tourism

This Easter weekend Toby and I headed down to Penarth in Cardiff to see his dad and stepmum.

On my training plan was do try and attempt a 5k run if it fit with our weekend plans. As it was a recovery week for me, there was no pressure either way.

As run director of recently created Rickmansworth parkrun and also two year old South Oxhey, I was keen to try a bit of this renowned 'tourism'. Toby, having enjoyed his 5 minute jog to Rickmansworth parkrun was also getting into the weekly routine. To be fair I've volunteered WAY more than I have run, but my triathlon coach is determined that I kill myself in a 5k timed event as often as possible at the moment. parkrun fits the bill and I'm lucky enough to be able to run AND volunteer (if I'm not RD).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, there was one within 3 miles of where we were staying - Grangemoor. So our Saturday morning was set.

Although we checked it all out online, we had no real idea of the terrain, route, gradients. It said it was 2 laps in a t-shape and we were to park at Asda and walk to the start underneath a bridge of a main road. It went alongside the River Ely and there would be a park nearby.

Intriguing.

So we parked at Asda and sure enough, followed the other brightly coloured legging-clad runners to this bridge. We were directed across the road to the starting area by a very smiley marshall clasping his Starbucks to keep warm.

The run briefing was wonderfully standard, with a Welsh twist welcoming a group of runners doing all 23 Welsh parkruns in 23 weeks (not on the same day as cleverclogs Toby chipped in!).

We had a lovely run with 170 or so others, following, as promised,  a 2 lap-shaped course - basically it was roughly 6 x 800m laps.

Both of us got PBs (I was happy to be 4th lady) thanks to the flat tarmac surface and as usual, organisation and support was exceptional - including the bunny-eared marshalls supporting us at each turning point! I don't think I've seen so many marshalls at a parkrun (although I am by no means an expert).

What continues to amaze me, is that parkrun will squeeze itself into any corner of the country, and is supported and run by tirelessly enthusiastic volunteers, attended by equally enthusiastic runners of all abilities and ambitions.

Grangemoor really is squashed behind a retail park, along a riverside path underneath a busy main road but its a quiet little oasis you wouldn't expect to find. Its not a regular circular loop, and for whatever reason it had to be fit into a small little T-shape, out and back a few times. It was a perfect start to our Saturday with the olds!

Thanks Grangemoor, we might see you again!

TT race

I signed up for a 25 mile TT race last weekend - part of this training/race thing I'm doing...

Arriving at Great Missenden for registration at 0730 on a chilly 7'C but bright Sunday morning, I watched the fanatics on their turbo trainers by the side of their cars warming up, just like Bradley in the Tour de France. Bit over keen, I thought. At least I too, had a TT bike, but this was the first time I had done a race like this before.

Then I heard the solid wheel whoosh sound of a fancy TT bike riding past me by a skinny man in a skin suit and a twat hat.

There were one or two other Hillingdon triathletes there, but I wasn't in the mood for being sociable at that time of the day.

At my pre-determined time of 0803, I was at the start - a grid in the road of a junction with the A413, with a man and a stop watch and another holding my bike in an upright position. I was clipped in and ready to go.

Within the first 12 minutes, my legs were screaming. I heard my watch beep that I'd done the first Toby set off 1 minute behind me.

My watch beeped with each 5k, my heartrate was good, but the legs were tired. Crouched into a TT position, my left hip started to cramp a little. But Toby didn't catch me.

In the end, I completed the race in 1:19, an average of just under 30kph. Not too bad I thought. Toby was 39 Seconds faster but most of the others were at least TEN MINUTES faster!!!

Maybe the skin suit, solid wheel and twat hat might have been been a good idea...