Budapest photos/report

It has again been ages since I put anything up here and so I have finally decided to put my race report from budapest. Overall im really happy with how the race went and for the first time in a triathlon I really didnt care where I finished overall as just being there was good experience. The weather wasnt great on the day and as you can see from the bike pics it was pretty wet although it did actually stop raining for the majority of the race! A brief description of the race pretty much follows my normal race reports- i.e a good swim, a strong bike and a rubbish run. The only difference is that for some reason my run was particluarly bad:( 20:50 for 5km is embarrassing and you have to go a long way down the rankings for find guys running as slow as that. Luckily I only lost 9 places on the run so after being in 7th off the bike I dropped down to 16th overall at the finish- would have obviously liked to be much higher but cant complain too much at a first attempt.

Some really good performances from local triathletes with an obvious mention to gemma scott who got a bronze medal in the 20-24 age group (after coming off her bike!). Also good performances from david suth. from WTC, lyndsey from STC and my new friends Gee and Kelly-Ann from Dundee. Good party on the saturday night/sunday morning was also a highlight of the trip:)

The weekend overall was amazing and getting to see the pro guys and girls race was something else. Budapest is a really nice city as well and would definately go back.

budapest results

wick photos

Catch up

Thought I had better put another post up as its been about three weeks since my last one!! First things first and I have put some photos up and the results from the wick sprint below and the results of the interclub competition (which caithness won:) Had a good race at wick and even though it was only a week after the Ironman I felt pretty good on the day and was even able to ease down on the run to make sure I didnt finish in a heap- back to back wins in 09 and 10 now. Good team entries on the day including two strong teams of good individuals who posted quick times. Also congrats to Rick, Chris and Phil for their first triathlon and im sure it'll be the first of many.
Training still coming along well, not done any racing (apart from thurso 10k which turned into 11.5k after a course change!) but was up in shetland with work so did some training with the triathlon club which was a good change- should be ready and raring to go for budapest. Flying out next thursday but ill put some more posts up before then.

Wick Sprint Results

Ironman Report

Well over a week since the ironman now and although havent really given myself much rest am starting to get back into a bit of training. Before I forget all about the event though I thought Id put down a quick report about how the day went.
After registering/racking bike and attending race briefing on the saturday I camped pretty close to the swim start on the saturday night although this still meant a 4am start and down to pennington flash for 5am. After checking over bike and getting into wetsuit I was in the water pretty early as I wanted to get a good start and prob had 20mins treading water before the gun went off. The swim itself went really well (apart from the manky water!) and after the first lap I checked my watch to see I had done it in 25mins, settled down a bit on the 2nd lap and eventually exited the water in 53mins- after the race most people thought the swim might have been a bit short but who cares.
After my usual slow transition it was out onto the bike and although I lost my water bottle about 2 miles in the first part of the cycle was fast with me making up quite a few places and probably getting into the top 20 before the first 30 mile lap was started. I didnt realise at the time but I absolutely blitzed this first lap and think I averaged about 22mph over a hilly course and was still up with the top guys. At the climb and the start of the 2nd lap however I realised I probably wouldnt be able to keep the same pace up and then run a marathon so eased off and slowly dropped back through the field. Pretty accidentally I found the lead female and she seemed to be doing a good pace so I cycled with her for the majority of the rest of the cycle. 3rd lap of the bike was pretty uneventful and just tried to keep eating and drinking at the feed stations. At the end of my bike I looked down to see 115 miles registering on my garmin (should be 112) and so although I had done the same time as france last year, 5hr45, the course was that bit longer and harder technically.
Legs were still feeling pretty good when I came into the final transition and everything went pretty smoothly as I set out for the marathon.......that is until they made us run up a massive hill right at the start and then through a 3 mile cross country section!! luckily after this we made our way out onto the roads and began the long run into bolton town centre. Although the run wasnt that scenic the crowds were good and that helped push you along. The most evil part of the run came when they made you turn right near the finish line and head back out the town for another 12 odd miles:( heard some people didnt know about this and thought they had finished!! Anyway on the way back out I probably had my only hard time in the race, maybe at about 16 miles where I had to walk for a few minutes and get myself together- not sure what was wrong but it passed and I was able to get back going. After the turn point to head back in I started to run smoothly again and the next hour seemed to speed in (wish it always felt like this) and before I knew it I was right at the finish line. Even got to do a sprint finish with what turned out to be the 3rd place female pro and just get her at the line:) finished in 10hr16 so although I didnt break 10hrs I was more than happy with the time on that course and to take 45mins off france time. The male pro won it in 8hr40 and the female pro in 10hr01. 38th out of the finishers overall and 10th in age group.
Overall a good day and didnt even feel that bad the next day, maybe I didnt go hard enough! With the easier bike course in austria and a good winters run training I know I can break 10hrs next time- oh yeah forgot to say on here that im already entered for IM Austria in july next year:)

Ironman photos

Done for another year!!

The Ironman is over for another year and although it hurts so much whilst doing it the feeling of completing it and knowing all the training was worth it more than makes up for it! Have put the results below and although a bit small can be seen if you click on them and zoom in.
Really busy this week so no time to put anything up in detail but will get round to writing a race report and will also put some of the event photos up when they are avaliable.
Helen also completed the course in 14hr29 which she was more than happy with as did terry gallagher (12hr10) from inverness but who races for wick tri club.
Lastly ive decided im not going to get any faster as im currently at the level of the female pro athletes which means I get to race round with them and believe me some of them are really fit:)

Ironman UK results

Ironman this wknd!

Now I remember how I felt last year in the week leading up to the ironman in france! The race is on sunday and for the next 6 days all I will think about is if I have done enough training, should I be doing more this week, what if this happens on the day etc and every slight strain or niggle will feel like a serious injury! Had a relatively easy wk last week and will be even more so this week, will just do a couple of easy swims, a short cycle and a couple of slow runs. Spent 6hrs on saturday sorting my bike out tho so at least that should be ok:)
On a slightly more worrying side helen (who is doing IM UK as well) has just sent me a text saying there are toxic algal blooms in the lake near bolton where we are meant to be swimming so hopefully something will get sorted with that- the marathon at the end is hard enough without dying half way through!

Stromness sprint

Just over a week now since the stromness sprint and have been waiting for the results to come out before I put a post up but they are still not around so Ill just put something down. Had a really good race and for the first time ever put the three events together solidly and on the day I dont think I could have gone any faster. Won the event in an hour and 13secs so bit gutted to not go under the hour but next time hopefully- guess the splits were about 10.30sec swim, 40min cycle and 18.30 run plus transitions. As you can see from the photo above it was a try out for the GB kit as well:) Good results for other caithness triathletes, including gemma scott (see pic!) who came 4th overall and 1st female in 1hr9, david spencer in 1hr12, brian and bruce from WTC and also graeme morgan in his comeback triathlon. Well done to orkney Tri as well for organising it.

Week 25- hard week 3

Monday:
1 HR Meduim turbo session- av 22mph/240Watts/700CAL.
1 HR Masters Swim- 12x75m w-up/ 400m s sprint/ 800m fc
Tuesday:
2 HR Run- 16 miles @ av 7:20min/miles. 6 miles fast in middle.
1 HR easy cycle- 20 miles @21mph av.
Wednesday:
1 HR Own swim - 4x (400m FC pull/100 FC kick)
3 HR Hard Turbo session. av 22mph/230W/2100 CAL.
1+ HR cross training- surfing at thurso east.
Thursday:
1HR Gym session- Easy weights and core exercises.
45min run- Easy 6 miles @7:30 min/miles.
1HR Masters Swim- 12x 75m/ 3x(2x200m) IM FC BRST. 300 easy
Friday:
Brick session
1.30 Easy Cycle- 30 miles. 20mph av.
1.30 Middle Run- 12 miles @ 7:30 min/miles.
Saturday:
4HR Cycle- 80 miles. 21mph av. Fast intervals on hills.
1HR Masters Swim - hard. 800 w-up/12x75m FC fast pull/12x50m FC fast swim/400 easy
Sunday:
45 min running -Brora 10k. 37:40 @ av 6:10 min/miles. plus w. down
1 HR easy Turbo session. av 20mph/200W/600 Cal.

Totals for week Swim = 9100m Bike = 230 miles Run = 41 miles

Totals for year Swim = 197,000m Bike = 2595 miles Run= 386 miles

Where have I been!

Realised I havent written in here for ages and so thought Id better put in a quick update of what Ive been doing. This is my hardest training time of the year so for the last 3 weeks ive been flat out either working, training eating or sleeping:)
Training is going really well at the moment and have been getting some good results both in races and in practice sessions. My time trial time has come down to 23:30 over the 10 miles and just yesterday in the Brora 10k I got my PB down to a 37min, wasnt that long ago I used to Run 45 mins for 10k! Long cycles are going well too with me averaging over 20mph and long runs are good too with me running at a consistent 7:30 min/miles.
Had some really hard weeks in the last three so going to put down what I did last week in terms of training in the next post.

Bala photos

Couple of photos from Bala- as you can see from my face at the end of the run I was really enjoying it at this point!

Bala Race report

Had a really good race at the weekend and still feeling happy about it now:) Its probably my best result ever considering the competition and the fact it was the british championships. Just checking through the results listings now and the top 20 in the senior division still stands with a 34th in the overall competition with the fast veterans (40+) included (and one female!!!... louise collins who came 2nd in ironman lanzarote last year and is one of the fastest girls around). Total entries was 700 with about 620 completing the distance.
The day started off with a pretty good swim with me doing the 2km in under 30min and prob coming out about 20th overall, next it was onto the bike and this is where I knew I was in good form. The whole cycle felt really quick and I posted a fast 2hrs20 for the tough 50 odd miles. Coming into transition though as always happens with me and triathlon I knew the run was going to be hard. Although I lost a good few places on the run I still managed a 1hr30 run on a hilly course which I was well pleased with. This is the only part of triathlon now where I really feel I can improve a lot and although the 1.30 run was good it was only the 90th fastest time on the day!!! Unbelievably I was probably sitting in the top 10-top 15 in the british champs after the bike until the run section.... at least I know where I need to improve:)
Special thanks go to colin moore (who completed the course in a credible 6hr30 after a puncture) who came back to inverness to pick me up after some travel problems on friday and to Tim and Katie who I stayed with in Chester and who ferried me round all weekend and had to put up with me dressed in lycra for the majority of it!
Will post some photos up soon

Bala Middle Distance Results

Interclub 2010

Last night saw the annual running of the interclub cycle race between Caithness CC and Wick Wheelers. In this race the top eight riders from each teams time is taken and cumulated and whoever has the lowest total time is the winner. This year the race was run between Wick and Thurso and although the night wasnt great in terms of weather, ie steady rain for the whole race at least there was a easterly tail wind which produced some quick times.
I gave myself the day off from training which is rare these days and it really paid off- did a 41minute and was quickest on the night- really scared myself a couple of times with how fast I was going on the new bike!! Caithness put together some good times and won by just over 30 minutes however this is a lot closer than last year and im sure with the younger riders Wick have coming through it'll be a much closer race next year.

assynt photos

Assynt triathlon

On Saturday a team of us from caithness headed over to the west coast for the Assynt triathlon. Based around Lochinver this adventure race consists of a 21 mile road run, 15 mile cycle, 5 mile kayak and 8 mile hill race. I travelled across on friday with friends roz and hamper and we camped on friday night.
Our team consisted of myself, roz and hamper splitting up the road run, coby from brora doing the cycle, mark cleminson doing the kayak and team captain colin earnshaw doing the hill run. It was a really hot day and everyone put loads of effort in with the result being we came out 2nd overall out of 7 teams. Next year were going to go for first place!!
Thanks to expert photographer hamper for the photo of me running with some pretty stunning backdrop:) going to put some more photos up soon.

Kirkwall Standard Photo

Left to right : Rod, Robin, yours truely, brian, david and gemma.

Check the glare of mine, brians and davids head. They should use us as a renewable energy source instead of all the turbines and tide machines on orkney!