I arrived at the race with a fellow Team Trisports member. For once I was early and I set up the transition area. Luckily the weather was good and clear. I started in the 1st wave for the olympic race and found the river challanging at best. Worse of all was my wetsuit had started to burn my neck again and I could feel it every time I sighted. I decided to follow some feet but lost touch on the way back and had a nice gulp of the sewarage.

The bike course is really good and fast although I got annoyed with some drafting. It reminded me of club runs around the coople loop. For once, my back didn’t hurt and no hamstring problems. I got on the run and started to catch some people in front. The end result is below but was more enjoyable for the lack of pain/issues. Next mission is a quicker swim and bike.

Overall : 9
Time : 02:11:38
Swim : 00:25:10
T1 : 00:00:55
Bike : 01:07:09
T2 : 00:00:43
Run 00:37:40

Well hello readers.

I hope to engage you in what will be a running blog of my race of the year, The Dambuster. My knowledge of the dambuster isn’t the best but I love the film and my motivation when in pain will be memorising the dambuster music.

Well how did I get to enter this race ?

It was a mixture of things, discussions with Steve and Jinxy last year on how they have enjoyed the race, the fact that it’s the BTF NATIONAL TRIATHLON CHAMPIONSHIPS 2011 and the qualification event for the ITU Standard Triathlon World Championships 2011 – Beijing, September 2011, sadly I can’t afford a trip. So coach Simon picked it as my main focus for the year in my race calendar and I entered (I was not lucky enough to get a free entry as an early fathers day gift or birthday pressie or 10th wedding anniversary gift).

Race Plan

So what do I want to achieve, I’m not racing to win but I will be racing to achieve the highest possible place in my age group. I would prefer this to be in the top 3 as my goal for next year is to qualify for an ITU event and actually be competitive against my peers.

Pre-Race Prep

Thanks to coach Simon advise I’ll be camping at the site. I’ve checked the weather and can confirm it will be raining whilst I pitch my tent. I’ve actually only ever camped once before and it rained every day so I do have a bit of experience, but am interested on how this differs to a night in a hotel / early morning 4am wake up call and drive. The actual course cycle is longer than a normal olympic and has a few hills but looks like good drag, the run also looks pancake flat and all times checked last year would confirm this when comparing against others I’ve raced before.

The Sleep + Trip

I left St Evenege at 6pm and realised that the A1 was closed after J17 due to a fire. Great, so took an off road tour of roads and areas I didn’t realise exist including a War Memorial. Finally got to camp at 8pm and set about setting up the tent and blowing up my deluxe blow up bed. I also had a chance to register and walk around the course which was refreshing. Also had a chat with fellow triathelete campers. Now I’ll admit the sleep could have been better as it didn’t stop raining all night and then at 5am the organisers decided to start the music

Race Setup

I bumped into fellow team mate Richard Melvin at the course and had a quick chat but I felt really relaxed as I was prepared. Put bike into transition and followed Dil’s top tip for counting the right steps (This is brilliant and works !!!).

The Swim

Now what a great place to swim, the lake is beautiull and they split out waves from 35+. The race started and I got into a bunch of 6 and simply followed feet. This was a real change from my usual 100m burst. I was relaxed and controlled and felt easy. I got out in 22:39 so equally happy with the time.

T1

A simple transition and away I went. Okay not as fast as dil but safe !!!

The Bike

What a course. It has 2 hills and then is flat and undulating but ends with a few climbs. I was probably a bit layed back in the bike as the organiser warned us at the start of issues with Police and any law infringements and they would cancel the race. However, I still raced and as I was in the 2nd wave it was great to pick-of athletes from the first wave. I suffered on the bike with a bit of back pain and my chain jumped off the rear cassette (now I don’t think I’ll ever buy a Planet-x again and luckily Trisports are fixing the deficiency with the frame), this had a slight negative on me that I didn’t risk going up too many gears but used the Turbo sessions 120rpm to full use. It was a windy day and this was made clear by the number of aero bikes on the side of the route caught by the strong winds. I ended with a time of 1:11:21 and this really is the difference if you want to be in the top 10 let alone the top 3 of my Age Group.

T2

DOH DOH DOH. I ended up with one shoe on and one off. Yes for the first time ever in Triathlon I messed up by not taking my feet out of shoes far enough in advance of the line.

The Run

By far the best run course I have done to date. Great scenary and flat, although windy. It’s a nice out and back. I ran steady leg and finished with 36:05 which was the difference between me and a fellow HSBC employee .

The Result

Overall = 62
Age Group 35-39=11th
Overall Time : 2:12:12
Swim : 0:22:39
T1 : 0:01:10
Bike : 1:11:21
Run : 00:00:55
Run : 0:36:05

Review

I’ll admit I did start with a vision of 3rd in my age group but I now realise that is a tougher challenge, although one I will take up. I quite fancy targeting the Age Group qualification to New Zealand in Olympic Distance next year. I’ll return to the course this year to do the middle distance and have different ideas on how to tackle the bike. Now on to the next Olympic and hopefully get down to 2:05 (Think I’ll target MK as it is short ). As events go this has top marks from me except with the exception of a timing issue but this was resolved by the time I got home, great facility (showers etc).

I turned up to London Triathlon with the objective of improving on my 2009 performance. I like the venue and the family enjoy the day out (oh that’s what they tell me). The London Triathlon is held in at the ExCeL centre, London. The bike courses has the benefit of road closures – a rarity in central London, which will allow competitors to race on traffic free roads. I raced in the Sub 2:30 male wave this year and cycled down towards big ben. This is a highlight of the race doing a 180 degree turn with big ben in the background. The crowds are fantastic and motivate you towards your end goals. Also a few of the team had come to watch the elite race featuring club member Steve Harrison. I managed to finish in time to see Steve on the bike leg. The went to plan and the swim was again a bit slower than previous year (a trend this year) but I made up for it and a fast bike leg. The run started well but after 2km I pulled my hamstring although I managed to run through the pain and finish. The hamstring was only an issue on the gradiant to the eXcel center which was a major relief. The cycle was a bit of a nightmare as drafting was i use by multiple guys and I got caught up in the middle and ended up taking a back seat. This year was a disapointment as they changed the run which ended up being longer than previous events although I did improve on 2009. The end result was a grade 1 tear of the hamstring and the cancelation of Bedford Triathlon. The result is seen below :

Wave Result : 28
Swim : 00:24:26
T1 : 00:03:12
Bike 1 : 00:18:25
Bike 2 : 00:45:01
Overall Bike : 01:03:26
T2 : 00:02:07
R1 : 00:11:23
R2 : 00:10:31
R3 : 00:10:46
R4 : 00:10:59
Overall Run : 00:43:37
Overall Time : 02:16:46

We started our trip to Worthing with a extra hour stuck on the M25. When we arrived at Worthing we did a quick investigation of the area. As I had already booked a table at fishworks for 7pm I registered early to enable me to get another valued 20 mins in bed on Sunday morning. our meal was fantastic and Delyth and I shared a fish platter that was great value for money. The children also had fish although Catrin preferred her potatoes.

The race morning was an early Sunday morning start at 6:30am so I had to get out by 5:15am to rack my bike and have the usual toilet stop. The race started with a run into the sea followed by a dive. I got to the first buoy in good time and then lost my way a bit and even had to do some breast stroke as I took a huge gulp of water. Luckily the sea was calmer than on Saturday where the coast experienced 30 mph winds. The exit was a relief and the added bonus of chants of “c’mon daddy” from Catrin and Beca.

The bike got off to a slow start as I decided to build into the course as I was aware it was tough. Some good fast sections exist on the course as it uses sections that are regularly used for a time trialing course but also some challenging gradients. The route follows the A280 and the A24 that were pleasantly quiet in the morning. The end was a added bonus of overtaking 3 people at the dismount so that training and preparation paid off. Although my transition time lost 15 seconds with my poor identification of my transition area.

The run was on the promenade and was one of the most enjoyable flat courses with some wind. I really enjoy flat courses and can relate them to the track. The overall result was satisfying with what appears an improvement on past races. 40th overall and 8th in my age group.

Overall Time : 02:12:50
Swim : 00:22:59
T1 : 00:00:54
Bike : 01:10:24
T2 : 00:00:44
Run : 00:37:46

The performance also helped with my rankins on the BTF National Rankings Series. My latest age group position is below:

Age Group : MF
Total Points : 215.13
Place : 8
Little Beaver : 106.02
Shropshire : 0.00
Worthing : 109.11

I qualified for Age Group GB Triathlon at TriAthlone (European Championships) in Bala Triathlon in 2009 as a reserve. Delyth and I left the children with Stan and Lilwen and crossed the Irish sea without Beca and Catrin in toe. Delyth actually managed to cross the sea on the ferry without sickness which is a major achievement.

Friday

We arrived Athlone on Friday after realising that the Garmin sat-nav was out of date and did not include the new motorway that goes direct from Dublin. On arriving the team hotel the first task was a shower, however, this ended in us being transferred to a new room due to a broken wall fitting that could not be replaced. We spent the afternoon getting the team briefing and registering .

Sunday

Race day was again early start of 730am. I guess you get use to racing early. However, the weather was very windy and in transition we were hreatws by the news of banned disk wheels. Many atheletes were shocked and ran around to find best fits. The swim was started by holding onto the jetty board and the hooter sounded the start. I got off to the usual fast start but just couldn’t keep on anybody feet to get a good draft although I was happy with the time. The swim was in a river that was very calm despite the high winds. The transition to the bikes was very long and I grabbed the bag and got into an aero position to attempt to get the best against the head wind. The bike was tough in the wind but I enjoyed the tail wind on the way back to athlone. The course was out and back. On the run I had a bit of a battle with a athelete from Spain although I just couldn’t drop him on the first 2 laps and then he passed me on the final lap as In hindsight I should have made him do some of the work. The town was a beautifully place to run and very challenging with ups and down sections throughout the town. The crowds were also amazing with their support a great motivator.

The Result

Steffan Ford GBR
Overall : 02:12:05
Swim : 00:22:28
T1 : 00:02:51
Bike : 01:03:45
T2 : 00:02:07
Run : 00:40:56

The Team Trisports Club Olympic Championships for 2010 olympic distance race was at the Northampton Triathlon as the race hosted the third and final round of their 2010 club championship. Held over the Olympic distance of 1500m swim, 40km bike and 10km run the event course proved familiar to me as I have raced many times at Grendon. The event is held at Grendon Lakes with the swim taking place in a wakeboarding lake and precedes a long run to transition. It’s then onto the bike course, where the cycle route goes through Northamptonshire villages and countryside. Grendon, Easton Maudit, Yardley Hasting, Castle Ashby and Bozeat are all on the race route. The day was the hottest day of the year to date and 36 athletes from the club were taking part.

I went into the race after a good performance at Grendon. I was looking to improve on previous performances at the distance/event and last time out managed to puncture on the bike leg. The Course is a nice swim and very good bike course, however, 4 laps of a off-road camp site isn’t the best run I’ve ever done. I was looking to beat my fellow members but sadly we’d been put in different waves so my closest competitors were in a wave 10 mins before I set off. The swim was average although you can never tell from the splits at northampton as it includes a 800m run to transition. The bike was a good fast course and I improved on last years flat tyre. On the run I struggled to get a good pace on the run and this is an area I will be looking to improve in 2011. The final result is below :

Position : 26
Swim : 00:25:31 (35)
T1: 00:00:41
Bike : 01:03:20 (39)
T2: 00:00:42
Run : 00:39:26 (31)
Overall Time : 02:09:43

The days data downloded from my Garmin (It didn’t enter the water) :

The little beaver – not so little..

A 5am start meant leaving a little bit early to get up the Beaver Castle. We arrived at 7am and had loads of time to start the process of setting up the bike. I did a quick check of the mount lines and noticed a 400+m run from the water to Transition. My pre-race nutrition plan was to drink high-5 in car but I only managed 20%. But my first mistake was to leave Garmin Edge for the bike at home on charge.

My nutririon plan was to have a sports bar before the swim and a zero tablet in water and 1 gels on the bike. I always suffer from cramp and musclte fatigue after 90 mins. I actually read the following that was handed out in our race packs -

http://www.highfive.co.uk/pdf’s/TRIATHL … ISH_LR.pdf

I realise that nutrition is key to racing and I’ll review my practice and try and reproduce the events in training. So back to the sports drinks for me with the Zero Tablet in the drink as suggested by the High 5 manual.

The Race

Open Water Swim
I felt the swim went to plan got off to a good start and managed to swim next to a few swimmers and thus use the advantages of some drafting. I also felt I had a good line with the sighting. It couldn’t have been all bad as I think I managed 21min but this didn’t include the run that made it 24 mins, I also managed to drop my googles and hat as I lacked some composure.
T1
What not to do, try and put on a watch in T1, why, why, why and I didn’t even look at the watch once during the race. The reason was I forgot my Bike Computer at home and thought that the watch would help. Wrong it cost me at least 30 secs. The bike mount was a success and I even passed 3 people, I left it to a scoot mount but will continue to practice. BUT my elastic band did not snap on the left side and I left it on all the way through the bike course.

Bike
The bike was a good hard course and nothing I hadn’t raced on before. The first lap felt good and I passed a few on the hill as I got into the cycle I was feeling strong. However, as I came onto my 2nd lap I started to get some hamstring pain so eased off. The hill felt like I was cycling backwards and I even had to drop down on the front to tackle in a seated position. I remember thinking If I push now I’ll blow my legs up I also did the school boy mistake of not analysing the cycle course and the number of laps, this cost me time as I passed on the first lap. What I did notice by marshalling the beaver is that I corner slower than most and take a great amount of care and lose time, I guess I’ll be in work on Monday….

T2
A success ? I think I did a good dismount and I ran with the bike into T2. I was happy with my pre-race analysis of T2 and this helped in the execution. Then drop the bike and the HELMET and off I went onto the run

Run

On Lap 1 I instantly felt my left hamstring and my right quad. I thus eased off and just tried to run some kind of pace (slow). I kept on looking at people’s calf and amazed by the number of F that passed me as my heart sinked. The 2nd lap I felt stronger and managed to pickup a bit but then the 3rd was just too hard to take and my legs just gave up as my muscles just stopped functioning (Hamstring, Calfs and Quads).

Overall
What got me the most was that I had a great swim and good bike and terrible run. Saturday was good as I helped with the beaver and this took my mind off, but Sunday has just been me battling with the science of Mustle Fatigue, think that’s the analyst in me.

Time

Overall Position : 107

Age Group : M30-34 31

Swim : 00:24:13 (91)

T1 : 00:01:18

Cycle : 01:10:53 (144)

T2 : 00:01:26

Run : 00:48:48 (152)

- 02:26:41

Yes I have Qualified for Athlone !!!

Well somehow I managed to sneak into the race after being a reserve for about 6 months. I’d actually planned on racing in Pembrokshire on the same weekend in the Welsh Championships but the draw of a GB Age Group trisuit was too much.

We’ve decided to leave the children with the parents-in-law and travel on ferry to Dublin. Then a 2 hour drive to Athlone and a stay at the Sheraton Athlone Hotel. I think del might indulge in a spa treatment so at least then I will not feel to bad for dragging her to the event as my offical fan. Also joining me will be Gemma Sargent whom is a member of the Team Trisports Development Squad, it will be good to have somebody that I train with for advise and she’s also a coach !!!

The next stage is to buy a GB Trisuit, I hope my parents will help with the costs of the suit (Dad is now gulping his tea in suprise).  Will have to have my name on the back as I bet not many have the name “FORD”, I wonder if people will think am I sponsored by the big car company.

Some links below:

British Triathlon Website – Qualifiers

triAthlone > The Race

My final race of the year. The highlight of the year. That was what I was hoping for, by atlast it was not to be. My hope was to qualify for GB Age Group, however, a poor swim and a poor run didn’t help. I came into the race with my achillies injury and this held me back. I was satisfied with the cycle stage but was annoyed by lots of drafting going on during the race, I felt that I would only be cheating myself and decided not to draft. However, it is sole destroying to see packs of riders passing with little effort used. The weather was fab, the course was fab but lots of athletes did not comply to the rules.

Overall Position : 139
Category Position : 26
Time : 02:14:08
Swim : 00:24:14 (20/67)
T1 : 00:01:01
Bike : 01:03:48 (27/170)
T2 : 00:00:55
Run : 00:44:08 (40/234)

The Swim

I started on the right and noticed straight away that I needed to angle myself towards the left. I got myself into a good stoke but felt that my wetsuit was leaving in a lot of water and causing a drag. I couldn’t be sure about this but as soon as I excited and looked at my watch 26 mins

The Cycle

Going out on the cycle I felt good and got to the first turning point. I did the U-turn but it didn’t feel right as if I didn’t go far enough. I stuttered for a while and asked another competitor if he was also on lap 1. He confirmed and I set about attacking the course. The course was great all closed roads and racing around past Westminster was huge fun. I felt I was trying to puch too hard a gear and remember my calfs hurting and feeling very tired. I cantered 3 gels but ended up taking in 2 gulps – back to the traditional gel eating technique.

The Run

The run goes around the ExCel and is generally very flat. Again I didn’t run too hard as I didn’t want to pull up with cramp.  At the end of each section of 2.5k I was lapping at 10 mins and used this to gage my run according to my watch but this was a mistake as it was definitely not a 10k run. I managed to pickup in the last 2k without any pain.

Results

 Overall View

I generally enjoyed the experience but was disappointed with the time. I will be returning next year to put in a better performance. I will also keep the calendar empty to ensure I’m ready to compete.