Ticking off the to-do list - Bike fitting

Being injured and unable to run has made me re-assess my bike, swim and S&C training, as well as ticking off some long overdue jobs on my ‘Triathlon to-do list’

One of those jobs was a bike fit. I made the journey up to Newark to see Judith Brand of Dr J coaching and bike fitting.

 

Aero wheels clearly giving me the advantage on the turbo

After some biomechanical testing and functional movement checks we tackled my beloved TT bike. It had been fit with all the best intentions by friends with ‘good eyes’ and some bits of string. Before all the adjustments the power output from my left and right leg was quite un-even, mainly due to the seat being too high and too far back. After the tweaking and adjustments made from looking at the data produced from the black sensors stuck on various bits of my body, my pedal efficiency was much better and power output from right and left leg was much more even. Not to mention being in the aero TT position was much more comfortable - happy customer!

 

The Muve



After the TT came the fitting on the muve for my first ever road bike! I’m currently riding a bike which is borrowed from RAF Triathlon, I am really grateful for it since it has enabled me to get in lots of miles over the summer and more importantly enabled me to attend our overseas training camp in Mallorca early in the season, but it is really heavy and not quite the right size. The fitting happened on the ‘muve’ a bike-like machine where all the components can be moved via little handles, so the rider doesn’t need to get off, and the fitter isn’t drowning in a sea of different sized Allen keys! This means lots of changes can be made and data captured quickly and more frequently. After less than half the time on the TT the muve was in the perfect position, and all the angles between hips, legs, ankles etc. were perfect! Now the measurements have just got to be made into a bike! J Moda here I come! :D

Thanks Judith :)

Check out her website here.

My First Triathlon

I thought I would reflect on my first encounter with 'proper triathlon' (this I classify as one with an open water swim) was the Dambuster standard distance triathlon in June 2013.

This was also the first EVER time I had swum in open water, more of that later.

Pre race kit checking and packing
N.B headphones are for warm up
not for using during any part of the race

The day began horrendously early, 05someting I got up. I was at registration by 0630 and collected my hat, number and found my space in transition. There was a sticker on the racking with my number and name on, this made me strangely excited. I made numerous newbie errors here, the biggest being - no track pump! Therefore I just guessed what pressure my tyres should have been with a hand pump - oops. After getting everything in transition sorted (sort of) it was time to have about 10 nervous toilet trips and wait for the start!


Swim

The various waves of men were off first, with a beach start and frantic run into the reservoir. We lined up on the beach at around 0830, the klaxon went and we were off into the water. About 300m into the swim I thought "oh dear god, will this ever end?!" I thought about paddling my way over to the canoe, but then reminded myself of how much I had paid to enter, and how I would have to sit about for the rest of the day with a quitting cloud of shame over my head! Not an option. I did a few strokes of breast stroke and remembered some wise words which were given to me - breathe, relax, and stay calm. And I was off again in my finest front crawl (not very fine by the standards of other humans with the gift of sight). 

All ready in transition

I struggled out of the water in just over 30 mins, which wasn't too bad, then I remembered the swim had been shortened by 100m due to it being so rough. However there was not time to dwell on what had just happened. It was into transition.

I had practiced this a few times (on dry land) so I thought I knew what I was doing. However I had not expected to be quite so disorientated after the swim and SO out of breath. I remembered all the important points, kit off and INSIDE my own transition area, helmet on BEFORE touching the bike, number on, glasses on - and away!...Or not, after the dismount line my chain fell off! (Of course it would choose now to have unexplained mechanical issues) and now I am facing slightly uphill, trying to get my chain on, then get my frozen feet to start pedaling! Eventually all parts of body and bike were functioning as best they could and I was away. 


Bike

The bike route is beautiful, undulating and really interesting. At one point I forgot I was supposed to be racing and was just really enjoying being out on my bike. That was short lived though and before I knew it I was back in transition - now to the favorite part...

Run
The day had heated up considerably and the sun was raining down gloriously. The run route goes across the dam, out to a turn around and back to the finish. This provides a good opportunity to see how far ahead the competition are, which in some cases was very far! 

Coming back to the finish was amazing, there was a fantastic buzz and it was amazing to finish. 

The Aftermath I kept grinning to myself all the way home in the car (despite some agonising stomach cramp). I felt elated that I had conquered an OW swim, and the rest of the standard distance tri. 

The first but not the last!

P.S when I later checked my tires they were at 80psi!

T3 - Run --> home --> washing machine

Time for a little sprint

 After the Kitzbuhel blues, and quite a while without a race, I thought I would ease myself back into the fold with a sprint.

However...I had not anticipated the trauma sustained to my achilies at the Inter-Service Track and Field Championships the previous Wednesday. I intended to do the swim and bike only, and I should have listened to my own advice (who ever does!) and not taken my trainers with me...

Into the deep

Another very early start, arrival and registration all went very smoothly. Set up in transition was stress free, and due to it being quite a small event I was confident I would be able to find my bike. It was really great to see so many hands go up at the race brief when "who's first triathlon is this?" was asked. I really hope they all caught the bug! And not the bug in the water (more on that later)...

Swim
Terrible as always. At least this was only 750m, and with so many novices I thought it would be fairly friendly - WRONG! I got my head fully dunked after about 50m, then my ankles grabbed (definitely not by accident) and then a swift punch to the face! A little extra trepidation was added to the swim after being told that there was a parasite in the water which causes 'swimmers itch'. Basically this parasite lives in water, and will try and lay its eggs in your skin. From what I have researched you don't then become some sort of walking parasite house, and they die quite quickly, but it can just make you itchy! Out of the water and a loooong old run to transition. Really glad I brought an extra pair of trainers as it was pretty gravelly and I managed to run past a few people exuding a lot of "ooch, aah, owww, ouch" sounds.

End in sight - getting pretty warm too!

Bike
I was really looking forward to racing the bike as I was determined I wasn't going to run so I could really go for it. However the course was pretty flat and I tend to switch off when there is no hill. I was catching people though which is always fun and definitely a motivator. Managed to stay in the TT position most of the course except some corners (still need to work on bike handling!) 

Run
Yes...I ran (bad athlete) but only at a plod really. The course was off-road which helped, and I wasn't feeling any pain so I just kept it steady and plodded on. I finished as the 1st Lady which is always a welcome confidence boost, and even got a prize donated by Wokingham Lexus which was pretty cool.

Love this photo
My poor other half supporting and photo-ing

Goody Bag
The medal was absolutely gigantic! And the post race goody bag had some good items, a flapjack and some face cream and the obligatory flyers. One of which was for Miles Stronger who make these really cool bar-code t-shirts for Park Run! 

There is this really cool video from the event. Someone had a remote control UAV type camera which got some really unique footage of the race. Very impressed with how high it got too! 

Thanks for all the great marshaling and officials who made the event possible :) 
'Grey Snapper' photos
'Sports Alive' photos

Results

European Triathlon Championships - Kitzbuhel

I have been extremely slow in writing about this event, despite it being super-awesome itself, I had a less than perfect time which unsettled my Mojo for a while.

This time I was lucky to be able to travel with my mule, and we arrived in Kitzbuhel on Monday (before the race the following Sunday) which gave us lots of time to relax, take in the sights and do a little bit of training.

The long way down.



At the top of the horn!

The first day we took on the Kitzbuhele-horn which featured in the Elite European race of 2013. It involved 8km of climbing 4000ft, which was INCREDIBLE! I am a bit of a sadist on the bike, however the TT was not the tool for the job, but I don't have a garage full of carbon fibre machines to choose from. The way back down was a bit more terrifying, and we had to keep stopping for wheel cooling down breaks (maybe a bit over cautious, but I didn't want anything exploding before the race!)



The rest of the week featured all the usual pre race stuff like course recce, registration and racking. I have never been anywhere where I have had the luxury of being able to do a swim recce, and maybe this was an error to start doing things I had not done before. Following my swim recce, that afternoon I felt a little dodgy, then Friday (2 days before the race) I spent the entire day in bed, sweating, and shivering with a less than enjoyable stomach! (make of that what you will). I was now pretty worried about my race on Sunday. Saturday I felt better, but still not 100% and I managed to make it to the team brief and bike racking in the evening.

RACE DAY! Wake up at some offensive hour, try to cram some breakfast down my face, then off to the race. My race start was the second of the day at 0730. The start went OK, but after about 500m I was sick while swimming. If you have never experience this, it is very un-nerving. Unhappily this happened twice, and although I am an abdominal swimmer, my swim was much worse than expected, meaning lots to do on the bike and run. I was sick another couple of times on the bike which player havoc with my nutrition. I did however manage to enjoy the beautiful course, and I was catching up with people all the time which is always nice! Onto the run, and yep...sick again! However more people to catch and the end was well and truly in sight. I managed to claw my way up to 7th in my AG and posted the fastest run of the day which was a small victory.

I learned so much from this race, and although it didn't really go my way, it was fabulous experience, made all the better to have someone to share it with. Not only that, there were a handful of RAF Triathletes competing at the European Championships at both Sprint and Standard Distance which made celebrating all our achievements even better.
 
I even made it onto the race review! (My feet at 2:10 and me at 2:15 for a smidge of a second!) Age Group Standard Distance Highlights

Reflecting on the race now, and after realising that this race was on the anniversary (to the exact day) of my first Standard Distance Triathlon, and my first EVER open water swim, it just shows what you can do with hard work, determination and a bit of luck!
 

View from the top of the Hahnenkamm at the closing ceremony

So I guess I am a World Champion

What has just happened? 

No really.... What has just happened?

I am sat on the plane now as the World Sprint Duathlon Champion! Pretty cool eh?  I won my AG (20-24) but I was also the first female in the entire field of 175 Age Group athletes from 37 different nations.

Travelling and racing on my own has been a massive learning experience. Not that I am new to either, in fact my first solo flight was when I was 5. Travelling with a bike is not exactly free from drama, especially when it is your pride and joy. I have also realised how travelling to competitions with someone you can offload your stress onto them, even if you or they don't realise it is invaluable. My other half normally acts as mule (carrying all my crap I insist on taking , but often never really need), my conscience (do you need to eat that giant tub of peanut butter - probably not) and general helper. 

Due to work commitments I only had a very brief time in Pontevedra. In fact I would say it is the minimum time you could successfully execute a race in. Fly, a day to build and test bike, compete, and then return.

The atmosphere was amazing, athletes everywhere. The elites raced on the Saturday which certainly got you in the right frame of mind. We had a briefing on the Saturday too and then a team photo (which was huge) I think we had one of the largest teams there.

One thing which wasn't so great was finding the food I wanted/needed. No where sold sandwiches, instead these stodgy pastry meat and cheese things - not ideal. Also all restaurants seemed to sell a lot of meat, and not so much in the way of carbs. I normally take my own race breakfast, but not other foods - lesson learned there! 

Another thing I will do in future is to take my own pillow, the hotel had these strange sausage pillows which were not too comfy.

360 degrees of transition

The Sprint distance athletes were the first to race at 0800 on Sunday, starting with 2 waves of men and then all the women together. 37 Nations were represented in the Womens race, comprising 175 people. I got to transition at 0600 in order to rack my bike and generally get ready. It was still pretty dark at this time, and it was also disconcertingly cold. I realised that I would have to time leaving my bag at the bag drop, followed by warm up and then the start quite carefully. Que the need for my mule :) 

The first run (5km) was two 2.5km laps of the streets of Pontevedra, very twisty with one hill.  

The bike course followed an out-and-back route, over an undulating course. The turn around point at half way provided a valuable opportunity to gauge how far I was in-front of the next competitor. Once I was around the cone at the top of the hill, I counted how many seconds the second woman was behind me. I am not the greatest cyclist, but I can hold my own, so I knew I needed to do some fearless descending in order to stay in the lead. Catching up with the blokes gave little incentives to keep pushing and some shouted words of encouragement to the 'first chica', some also shouted at being 'chicked', but all in good spirit'. 

The crowds were fantastic, lots of GB friends and family, but also other nations were cheering the fact I was the first lady, I almost couldn't believe it and kept pushing the pace all the way to the finish for fear of someone catching me!. Coming into the stadium the announcer missed me and announced the second lady as the winner. I thought that maybe I had incurred a penalty for drafting or something (even though I hadn't) so I didn't want to celebrate too soon, and then have to un-celebrate! After a couple of hours and a few panicked text messages, it was confirmed - I had won, I was now the World Champion!! And not just my Age Group, I had won the whole race!" 

I flew back home the next day and then was back in work bright and early on Tuesday morning - what a weekend! 

Shropshire Triathlon

The first standard distance of the year!

The night before the big T, all I could here was rain, rain RAIN.

The day of the race I looked out of my window, and yes, it was still raining. The 1 hr drive, it rained all the way.

Registration and transition set up were all as normal and yes it was still raining.

Watching the first few waves set off, it was slightly disconcerting the green/blue splashes which could be seen. The lake was pretty full of blue/green algae, and I really didn't want to be ill leading up to the World Duathlon Champs next weekend.

Once we were in the water it was freezing, and visibility underwater was 0. the first 200m or so of the swim I had to swim my best face up front crawl as I could see absolutely nothing underwater and the mele of arms and legs was as bad as always.

The cold water temperature and the standing around in the rain meant that I was, yes, cold! I panicked slightly and my chest was really tight, also I had a really bizarre sensation in my quads. It was like my leg muscles had been replaced with concrete. I thought that the only option was 1. swim fast, or 2. sink like a stone.

Since it seems to be a rule I have to forget something on race day, this time I forgot to empty my Garmin, therefore before the swim start, it helpfully told me….Memory Full, and with not enough time to go through the thousand multifunction button presses needed to delete a meesely run, my watch had now become a useless wrist accessory.

So, out of the water I had no idea how the swim had gone, but I knew as always there were a lot of people in front of me. I found my bike with ease thanks to it being next to a giant tree.

The concrete leg sensation didn't subside for a while on the bike (I have no idea how long since my watch was rendered useless thanks to my lack of attention) it rained some more on the bike. Having read the race instructions it said there were some tricky climbs, which I was looking forward to since I am good at climbing. However these monstrous climbs as promised were nowhere to be found.

Eventually I came to a 10km sign, I had no idea what this was in relation to. It couldn't be 10km gone, surely?! Then 9km, how bizarre, they were counting down to transition. This gave me a welcome boost and before I knew it I was back in T2 and off onto the run.

Haha – not so fast Bagshaw, it would seem that my feet had been replaced with blocks of ice and I stumbled my way back to my position on the racking. My fingers were also useless and it took way too long to get my trainers on. After 5km on the run I finally got some feeling back into my feet. Running off the bike, and without the sensation of knowing what your feet are doing is very disconcerting. So the feeling came back, and, uh-oh, problem number 2, the tongue in my trainers was all twisted, in both shoes. This meant that I was now getting blisters on the TOP of my feet!

Woohoo – finish!

Sorry - no pics, so wet I didn't want to get phone soaked! 

Lessons Learned

Make sure watch is charged AND has memory.
A couple of seconds to make sure trainers are straight might be well spent.

Results at Stu Web http://www.stuweb.co.uk/event/1557