Thursday, 26 November 2009
South Woodham Focus
I'm in the local paper, here is the article seen in issue 418 of the South Woodham Focus.
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Winter Training
As I’m sure you will have noticed, it aint nice outside. A perfect time to be swimming. Somehow I’ve done reasonably well without being able to swim front crawl but that is no longer the case. I’ve cracked it and have already seen 10 minutes improvement over 1500m. I get better every day and am actually enjoying swimming. I’m chuffed about that but not so much about my bike. In short, it’s broke and I don’t know how to fix it. This means I can’t do indoor turbo sessions and have to use my old kid’s mountain bike with a saddle that’s stuck in too low a position for my legs. I plan to go to the local bike shop but this really isn’t doing me any favours. In the meantime I’m going to concentrate on swimming and running and get the miles in when/if my bike gets fixed.
Alpe D'Huez Long Distance Triathlon (29/07/09)
This is an epic race, and it was only until I saw the alps for the first time that I realised just how epic. My training had been going well and I really enjoyed putting the hours in on the bike. The plan was for me and Emma to drive all the way there, and that’s exactly what we did. After a relaxing stay at the top of Alpe d’Huez, race day arrived…
+of+121.bmp)
Almost immediately I hit the first climb, the 1375m Alpe du Grand Serre, and I absolutely loved it! I was amazing to climb and climb all the way into the clouds. I’m very light so was built for this kind of cycling, and it showed. I was holding back yet still passing people and feeling incredibly strong. Then came a fast and technical descent, I have no idea what speeds I reached but some of the lean angles were verging on those of Valentino Rossi. By the time I reached Col d’Ornon the heat was really starting to soar. Despite having completed the distance many times before I was starting to struggle and found it difficult to get any nutrition in. As the temperature reached 39°C I felt my head boiling inside my helmet, and it wasn’t long before I got heat stroke. I stopped in the shade and drank as much water as I could to cool me down. In hindsight that may have washed all the electrolytes out of my system. Being sick didn’t help either. When I reached the foot of Alpe d’Huez I was still on schedule… it wasn’t to last. The climb seemed ridiculously steep in the state I was in, and before I knew it I couldn’t physically stay on the bike and decided to walk along with many others around me. By the time I reached hairpin 6 I was shaking and became very confused, I didn’t really know what was happening anymore. The only thing in my head was to get to hairpin 1 where I knew Emma was waiting to see me. In the last 2 hours I had travelled about 5km. I kept putting one foot in front of the other through sheer determination but eventually I couldn’t move and I collapsed by the side of the road. I lay there for what seemed an eternity, unable to move or speak, I could barley see. Luckily I was doing so well beforehand that there were still lots of competitors cycling up past me. I reached out and stopped one, telling them to explain to Emma that I might be a bit longer than expected. They didn’t speak English but flagged down an ambulance for me. I remember them putting me on a stretcher, giving me a drip and taking me to a medical room at the finish line. I’ve never seen so many sick people in one room, it was absolutely crazy. I slowly recovered and checked myself out because I knew Emma was waiting for me. By this point I was in a fit of tears. I was told I looked very ill indeed but I felt very well compared to how I was. Then a man came over with my bike and told us to wait where we were. He came back with a finisher t-shirt for me. I will never forget that moment, as you can imagine it was very emotional. As we walked back to the hotel we saw the last finisher... of the cycle leg, he still had the run to go!
The 22km High Altitude Run
The 2.2km Swim
After my usual pre race rituals I built up the courage to enter the crystal clear and freezing cold waters of Lac du Verney. Before I realised what was happening, the race had begun. Off I went then, and I came out towards the front despite swimming breaststroke most of the way. I was absolutely delighted and with a big smile on my face and took my time to get changed and head out on a cycle course that had the potential to make or break me.
After my usual pre race rituals I built up the courage to enter the crystal clear and freezing cold waters of Lac du Verney. Before I realised what was happening, the race had begun. Off I went then, and I came out towards the front despite swimming breaststroke most of the way. I was absolutely delighted and with a big smile on my face and took my time to get changed and head out on a cycle course that had the potential to make or break me.The 115km Cycle
Almost immediately I hit the first climb, the 1375m Alpe du Grand Serre, and I absolutely loved it! I was amazing to climb and climb all the way into the clouds. I’m very light so was built for this kind of cycling, and it showed. I was holding back yet still passing people and feeling incredibly strong. Then came a fast and technical descent, I have no idea what speeds I reached but some of the lean angles were verging on those of Valentino Rossi. By the time I reached Col d’Ornon the heat was really starting to soar. Despite having completed the distance many times before I was starting to struggle and found it difficult to get any nutrition in. As the temperature reached 39°C I felt my head boiling inside my helmet, and it wasn’t long before I got heat stroke. I stopped in the shade and drank as much water as I could to cool me down. In hindsight that may have washed all the electrolytes out of my system. Being sick didn’t help either. When I reached the foot of Alpe d’Huez I was still on schedule… it wasn’t to last. The climb seemed ridiculously steep in the state I was in, and before I knew it I couldn’t physically stay on the bike and decided to walk along with many others around me. By the time I reached hairpin 6 I was shaking and became very confused, I didn’t really know what was happening anymore. The only thing in my head was to get to hairpin 1 where I knew Emma was waiting to see me. In the last 2 hours I had travelled about 5km. I kept putting one foot in front of the other through sheer determination but eventually I couldn’t move and I collapsed by the side of the road. I lay there for what seemed an eternity, unable to move or speak, I could barley see. Luckily I was doing so well beforehand that there were still lots of competitors cycling up past me. I reached out and stopped one, telling them to explain to Emma that I might be a bit longer than expected. They didn’t speak English but flagged down an ambulance for me. I remember them putting me on a stretcher, giving me a drip and taking me to a medical room at the finish line. I’ve never seen so many sick people in one room, it was absolutely crazy. I slowly recovered and checked myself out because I knew Emma was waiting for me. By this point I was in a fit of tears. I was told I looked very ill indeed but I felt very well compared to how I was. Then a man came over with my bike and told us to wait where we were. He came back with a finisher t-shirt for me. I will never forget that moment, as you can imagine it was very emotional. As we walked back to the hotel we saw the last finisher... of the cycle leg, he still had the run to go!The 22km High Altitude RunIf you were reading closely you’ll have gathered that I never got to this stage. Although two days later I felt well enough to finish the race. I was already planning my return but couldn’t leave on a failure. I cycled down to the foot of Alpe d’Huez and climbed the mountain at an alarming rate. It was incredible… I had finally conquered the Alpe, those Tour de France guys had nothing on me. What a race, and I’d do it again in an instant!
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