This last week has been pretty hectic really.
I had Easter week off work and spent most of it with the family, in the chilly fog, on the east coast near Scarborough whilst the rest of northern England was basking in sunshine! I managed to get quite bit of training in though, especially long running and long swimming. I had a particularly interesting 10 miler whilst on our mini break. The fog was the thickest I've ever seen..I could barely see my hand in front of my face but I had been looking forward to running up into the coastal hills and decided to press on regardless. I thought, as long as I run out and back along the same route, I wouldn't get lost...oh really...I was lost after about 20 minutes! It is scarily easy to get disorientated in a real 'pea souper'! In fact, I only realised I had gone over the top of the hills when running started to feel easier! So I turned round and headed for home, but, because I was running quite fast downhill, I missed my turn off. I was running for quite a while and was starting to think I needed to retrace my steps, when I almost ran into a sign post which read "DANGER CLIFF EDGE"! No fence line, just a 4 ft high post! I now had to decide whether to follow the cliffs to my left or right in an attempt to find my family! I could hear the crashing waves but could not see a flipping thing! Spooky. Suffice to say I chose correctly and was relieved when I eventually started to see civilisation slowly appear from the gloom!
The next day I managed to squeeze in an early morning swim at a local pool, which was simply a 3km steady plod followed by 10 x 25m fast/25m easy.
On returning home on Friday I went out for my last training sesh before my race on Sunday...a 90min steady ride with several short sharp efforts.
Saturday I was up at the 'crack of sparrows' to travel down to TriUK in Dorset for the team media launch. I was on the road at 0415 and got to the shop in Yeovil at about quarter to 9 (after seeing more of Bristol town centre than I should have...I really could do with a satnav!) I spent the day with TriUK 'stalwart' Roy Brunning and the rest of the team, in the TriUK shop being photographed, briefed and clothed and had the opportunity to wander around the largest tri shop in the world...I have never seen so much triathlon gear under one roof...awesome!
I got home to York at about 9pm, totally shattered, got my race kit together for the next morning and crawled into bed!
Sunday..race day..Skipton.
First tri of the year and it was a great race to kick off the season; well organised, a good route and a chance to give my new kit an airing, including my Craft trisuit, Oakley Radar glasses, Met Inferno helmet all of which performed extremely well! My race start was 1200 so no early starts and by this time the sun was shining and there were loads of enthusiastic spectators around the transition area, which was in the middle of a huge park. I wasn't expecting a fast race due to my build up to it (training through and driving nearly 600 miles the day before!) so I hadn't put myself under any pressure really. I ended up having a pretty good'un in the end. I finished 12th overall and 2nd in my age group!
Timings wise, there was a slight faff though. The results had me down at 5:16 for a 400m swim! Very nice of them to knock a minute off, but unfortunately my watch was probably more correct at 6:16! However, they stuck a minute on to my bike split, so it was a case of give and take! My 5km run was 18:17 which I was pleased with. I stopped my watch at the same time as the organisers had for me, which is always a bonus!
So, an eventful week really. Looking forward to the Interservices Duathlon next week...come on the RAF!
Train well.
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