Red Bull Steeplechase

Its 8am in the Peak District and Hope Valley is under a layer of mist, with only the higher ridges exposed to the morning sun. Down in the mist are over 400 runners gathering at Castleton and getting ready for the 21 mile Red Bull Steeplechase. I’d heard about this race through a number of clubmates who’d been taking part in it over the past couple of years. The format is synonymous with that of an elimination cycling race: 3 cut off points after 8, 12 and 18 miles where 90, 110 and 70 runners are pulled out at each point respectively. Pacing correctly is essential, as any marathoner will know that 21 miles really is quite some way, however the 4,000ft of climb adds an extra dimension to consider.

With the mist having lifted, the race got underway with an ever-present sprinter getting to the foot of the first climb with a 100m lead, soon to be swallowed up by those runners taking it steady and with a greater appreciation of the task that lay ahead. The race opens with 550ft of climb within 0.5 miles, so it was a case of climbing on all fours, unless of course you’re my clubmate Glenn who sailed up it with ease and immediately put some distance between him and the rest of the field.

 We continued along The Great Ridge, past Hollins Cross, on to Lose Hill, and all with stunning views of Edale one side and Castleton the other. There was even a brass band half way along the ridge! I’d caught Glenn by this point and, at the first major descent, I managed to open up a bit of a lead over 2^nd and 3^rd places.

No sooner had we descended, we were back climbing again, this time over to Ladybower reservoir and towards the first check point at Bamford. Up, down, up, down was certainly the theme of the day, this coupled with having to maintain full concentration on your footing to avoid slipping and wiping out. A lot of the route seemed vaguely familiar, having come to the Peak District with my Dad when I was growing up, and this helped provide a degree of awareness about how far I was from each checkpoint.

I arrived at Bamford feeling fine, relatively fresh and with about 30 seconds on 2^nd place (a fell-runner from the Czech Republic). I declined some Red Bull at this stage thinking that water was probably more suitable and cracked on to the ascent of Win Hill. Glenn’s strength on the uphill meant that he reeled in a fair amount of distance at this point. Despite the massive desire to walk on the ascents, I pushed on as best as possible knowing that 2^nd and 3^rd were not far off. A single trumpeter was on the top of Win Hill, marking the highest point on the 2^nd stage and the start of the steep descent down to Hope.

 Shortly after the second checkpoint I was starting to tire. As I rattled through 10 gates at the start of the third stage, I was aware that the Czech runner was moments behind as I could hear him too rattling through the gates. Fortunately there were no significant inclines on this stage and I got into a decent rhythm. Feeling low on sugar, I chugged half a can of Red Bull at a water station and flew all the way to Edale, the third and final checkpoint.

The last stage was relatively short at 3 miles, however slap bang in the middle is The Great Ridge separating Edale from the Hope Valley were the finish line was.  I looked behind and couldn’t see 2^nd place; this was fairly comforting as I was really starting to flag and the last thing I fancied at this point was a sprint for the finish line via a massive hill. A group of supporters had gathered at Hollins Cross and gave a cheer before I started the final descent. A few things were going through my mind at this point: don’t get lost in the last mile, don’t stack it, don’t cramp up, my ankle hurts, I’m massively dehydrated, I cannot wait to put my feet up….all the normal stuff.

Anyway, I did make it, and took 1^st place in 2:37, which was far from what I’d imagined going into the race. Glenn Hughes was 3^rd, Hugh Torry 4^th and Simon Barrett (Baz) 10^th. In the women's race, Katie Williams was 2^nd and Helen Palmer 4^th. Not a bad team effort.

The finish and ‘after party’ was just about as spectacular as the race itself with a hog roast, bar, and all the competitors having re-assembled from each of the other cut offs. I’m not sure whether the race is on again next year, and I’d almost certainly aim to do it again, but judging by how my legs feel right now, I might take a while to recover!

Rubicon 70.3 triathlon

The last time I did a middle distance triathlon was in my build up to my Ironman back in 2010. Since then, my triathlon training has stepped up significantly and I felt that, certainly this season, I'd done sufficient endurance training to warrant doing a 70.3. I thought I'd give the Rubicon Tri in Yorkshire a go, a relativity new event and were there was some good competition in the form of professional Joe Skipper (2nd in UK ironman 2014).

The swim followed the river Ure downstream 1700m, before doubling back upstream for the final 200m. I found I was able to get on the feet of other swimmers which helped pull me along and maintain a relatively good pace. Despite being my weakest discipline, I was pleasantly surprised by my swim, finishing 8th and only 2 minutes down on first.

The bike was on a fast 2-lap course, mostly going up and down A roads, and with only little wind. After 5 miles on the bike, a group of 4 of us was strung over 50m on the road (to avoid the drafting) and we periodically took it in turns to take lead and help maintain a reasonable speed. Up ahead a couple of minutes was Joe Skipper and one other, whom I later found out was part of a relay. I managed to maintain a consistent pace, averaging about 24.5mph for the 51 mile course, and finished the bike feeling relatively ok and about 4-5 minutes off the leaders.



I started the run with a skip in my step with a 5:17 mile followed by a 5:13 mile. This was probably not the wisest idea to start with and I paid for that as I detonated at about 9 miles....but I felt I needed to give it everything on the run to have any chance of reeling in the leaders. At about 6 miles I realised the deficit on first place was too large, but I was comfortably in second. In the end I finished 2nd in 3:51, 3 minutes behind first. I have lots to learn here across pacing, race nutrition (I only had one gel and half an energy bar during the whole race, which is probably not enough) and specific training sessions. That'll be it for triathlon for 2014. I'll give the Ballbuster Duathlon a crack in November, and then consider my 2015 race plan sometime early next year.

Myself, Joe Skipper, Sam Village

Step up to elite racing at The London Triathlon

This was my first taste of elite level triathlon racing and my first impression is that it is a huge step up from the open triathlon races I've always done in the past. When I've raced road or cross country race in the past, I know the other athletes to look out for, how long before you need to be at the start line and where to push on in the race; essentially a good familiarity with the situation. However the elite triathlon is a new world, I didn't recognise anyone, I didn't really know the race protocol, I didn't even know before I got there whether the wheels I was using were legal for the race! The wheels turned out to be fine, I got my bike racked and walked through transition so I knew what to expect when switching between the disciplines.
The most significant difference between open and elite racing is that you are able to draft on the bike, and this means that its a significant advantage to come out if the swim in a reasonable position in order to get into a cycle group where you can work with others. I thought I'd had a reasonable swim, I certainly gave it everything, but landed up coming out of the water dead last which was my first real indication of the increase in standard compared to what I was used to. Fortunately there were a couple of other guys just ahead of me and I started the bike in a group of 3, hardly comparable to the packs of 10 that had formed ahead.

The group soon became 2 and I worked together with another competitor (Anthony Meager) to share the pace. Whilst our 56 minute bike split wasn't a disaster and only a couple of minutes off the pace, I was left thinking it would have been a far easier ride had I been in one of the packs up the road. I saw starting the run almost at the back of the field as an opportunity to significantly move up in the standings. As I began my first lap, the eventual winner (Mark Buckingham), was starting his second lap of the 3 lap run course. I decided that I'd try my best to stay ahead of him (possibly to the frustration of the motorbike rider trying to film just the leader), and this helped me to maintain a fair pace. I worked my way through the field to finish 19/40 in 1:52:05.
As a debut elite triathlon, it certainly wasn't a disaster and has made me think about how I should structure my training over the winter in order to work on my swimming. Currently I'm only swimming 1-2 times a week on my own and clearly that is not enough!
Next up is the UK age group triathlon in Liverpool on Sunday followed by a few easier weeks before the XC season kicks off. I may even throw in a Middle Distance triathlon before the end if the year.

Swim: 22:22

T1: 2:09

Bike: 56:24

T2: 1:31

Run: 29:42

Training in the Alps

506 miles cycling, 27 miles running, a track session and 68,000 ft of climb was what it took to break me (not quite literally, as I'm not actually injured), but just physically exhausted. 

View from the Sarenne

Having spent a reasonable amount of time over the years in the Alps during the winter, a trip to the Alps in the summer is something that I've always wanted to do in order to see the mountains in a different light. Fortunately I have 4 other friends who also have an affinity for cycling up hills, and hence a trip to the town of Bourg d'Oisans at the foot of Alpe d'Huez was an obvious place for a holiday. Yes, Bourg is a mecca for cyclists, but you don't get the feeling that the place is overrun with a huge number of cyclists, and there are so many cycle routes radiating from the town,
that quite often you'll find yourself climbing
the routes alone.

Cycling off the Galibier

In the first 2 weekends of August, I have my first elite triathlon, a fell race, and then the British Age Group Triathlon Champs to follow, so a trip dedicated to cycling and running 2 weeks out  was ideal. I won't go into the detail of every climb we did, (most of the rides are here) but the aim was to try to complete most of the major climbs starting out of Bourg d'Oisans.

Top of Galibier (Chris, Bellew, Me, Freddie, Steve)

One notable ride we did was The Marmotte - a 174km, 17,000ft cycle taking in Col du Glandon, Col du Telegraph, Col du Galibier and finishing with an ascent of Alpe d'Huez. This was possibly one of the toughest things I've ever done, and I tried to attack every ascent which wasn't the wisest thing, but having Chris to 'race' up Galibier against certainly made that 17km climb a little more interesting! The photos here show just how stunning the scenery was, and that has largely been our view for the past 7 days. 

View on the way up to Col du Croix de Fer

Those Tour riders who get a view like that every day for 3 weeks are certainly a lucky bunch! To put some context in this ride, I managed it in 7:50 (which excludes lunch/ice cream/beer stops), compared to Laurens ten Dam (currently sitting 8th in the Tour) who managed it in 6:08!






Hopefully I won't have lost too much running speed this week and, once the legs recover, I'll be able to benefit from all the climbing and my biggest training week. If anyone thinks going cycling in the Alps is something they'd like, then drop me a note and I'd be happy to suggest somewhere to stay in Bourg d'Oisans and a few other useful bits of information.

Drovers 1,000ft effort at Welsh Castles Relay

My 11th consecutive running at the Welsh Castles Relay and 11th different stage to take on. So which stage was I running this year? Stage 14, Drovers, and all 1000ish ft of climb. A mountain classic by WCR standards. I met James McMullan (previous winner) on the start line, so knew that it would be a decent race to the top.

Conditions had been variable over the previous 24 hours but, with a bit of luck, we'd avoid any rain storms and run in sunshine. The first 6 miles roll along the A483 and, after a first mile of 5:05, I started to pull clear of James. I was a little concerned that he'd be strong on the climb, so my plan was to try to put as much distance between him and I as possible before ascending. The WCR is a very well supported event in terms of minibuses and car loads of teams from all competing clubs all pulling up at lay-bys on the route to cheer on all the runners. In amongst the cheers, I did find out that I'd managed to put about 200-300m between myself and James by mile 6, at which point we turned on to the quiet road that winds it's way up to the Drovers Arms.

It was now quite humid, sunny and there was absolutely no chance of rain. I decided to try and keep a metronomic pace to the top, so started up the hill at a steady pace. I was probably climbing at about 7:30 mile pace and focused on simply putting one foot in front of the other. There was a stunning view down towards Bullith Wells that I couldn't really appreciate and decent support that I couldn't really acknowledge but was very welcome.

The finish is visible from about 1.5 miles out, with a sizeable descent to wind it up on followed by a final climb to the end. By this point, I had half an eye on breaking the hour and so pushed on despite 2nd place being a couple of minutes behind. I clocked 59:17, a new stage record on the 'new' course. (However take note that one of the finest runs I've ever seen was Phil Sly running 58:00 in 2005 on the older and longer course, so still a way off that).

Definitely no 5ks today.

London Hyde Park Triathlon

Today was the open race for the London ITU triathlon. Whilst the elites had gone yesterday, where Mario Mola (Spain) had won the men’s race and Gwen Jorgensen (USA) had won the women’s race, the prize on offer today was just as monumentus as the race incorporated the 2014 Serpentine Club Triathlon Championships (Olympic distance). A fair number of Serpies had landed up in the same wave, so the 11:10 start line resounded with various chants of encouragement for the club.

The start was far less aggressive than normal, in that I didn’t get hit or kicked on the head, and I soon found myself in the slightly unfamiliar position of leading my wave on the swim. Yes, I did have to continually look up to check that I was heading the correct direction and, for much of the swim, there was an element of ‘have I gone around the correct buoy the correct way?’ But the swim element went fine, and I came out the water in about 20 minutes.

Having carefully walked through a practice run of the transition area prior to the race, I knew exactly what to expect and, despite stopping to put shoes and socks on (I still haven’t mastered the elastic bands and bike shoes yet) and the typical issue of getting my wetsuit off, felt as though it was fairly efficient.

On to the bike of 5 laps and 36km around Hyde Park. Now I was in wave 29, and so I had gone into the race thinking that there’d be a fair number of other riders to dodge on the course. However, the field was fairly spread out and, along with a few shouts of “keep left!”, I found I hardly needed to brake at all when it came to overtaking. The course is fairly technical with a couple of dead turns, sharp 90 degree bends and a number of speed bumps, so you have to keep alert the whole time. I think I kept the pace fairly consistent; I tried my best to keep the speed as close to 25mph as possible and didn’t really think twice about holding anything back for the run. I took a gel after 3 laps, felt a bit funny immediately afterwards (although that’s generally the case and by the time I was on the run, it was fine), and my only error was filling my water bottle half full given I was so thirsty by the end. I landed up coming into transition in about 55 minutes.

On to the run. Surprisingly, it was this part where the course was most congested, but I think that is because the paths around Hyde Park are slightly narrow. I felt fine and have been accustomed to running 10k recently, so I went out at a fair pace and soon settled into the run. The best part of each lap on the 4-lap race was about 3/4 through where a bunch of my friends had come to watch and where shouting a lot of encouragement. Yes, I did speed up for that bit, and then slowed down…but that’s what you do right?! I finished the run in 31:18, so imagine the course to be a little on the short side.

I landed up finishing in 1:52:14 which appears to have been the quickest time of the day according to the website, so pleased with that. And infers that I probably won the Serpentine Club Championships as I made sure I wore my running kit today!

Highgate Harriers Night of the 10,000m PBs

For anyone enthusiastic about athletics and wanting to watch some of the best domestic talent race around 25 laps of the track, Hampstead Heath track was THE place to be last night. After the success of last year’s ‘Night of the 10,000m PB’s’, Ben Pochee and his team at Highgate went one step further to deliver, what I thought, one of the best track events I’d ever been to. A giant TV screen, inspirational tunes picked by the athletes playing out, BBQ, beers, and 300-400 people cheering from lane 4, all helped to create a fantastic atmosphere for the 125 athletes competing across each of the 5 10,000m races.

A strong wind didn’t make ideal conditions for PB's, but the very fact that each race had been carefully seeded, meant that individuals were competing against others of a similar standard and hence likely to encourage faster times.

I was in the men’s B race and looking to break 31 minutes. I thought I may as well go for it at the start, use the group to help drag me around and, in particular, shield me from the gale in the finishing straight of each lap. This was fine up until 5k, which I reached in about 15:15, however the quick early pace hit me from 5-8k, where I lost the wind shield and started to go backwards. Despite the sub 31 target drifting away, the music playing out and crowds of people supporting on every lap helped push me along and I was able to pick up the pace for the last 2km, eventually finishing in 31:27. Slightly disappointed, but still a 2 minute PB on the track.

Then it came to the 2 main races of the evening, the women’s and men’s A races. Assembled on the start lines were athletes that have been to the Olympics, Commonwealths, World Championships, and several of which were aiming for a European Championship 10,000m to be held in Zurich this August.

Jo Pavey and Sophie Duarte took it out on the first half of the women's race, closely followed by Fionuala Britton. However it was the pace that Jo Pavey continued to knock out the laps at that eventually broke her away from the field to take victory in 32:11. This not only achieved the sub-33 minute Euro qualifying time but also recorded a W40 British record by over 2 minutes.

In the men's A race, the AFD duo of Andy Vernon and Chris Thompson pulled clear of the rest of the field early on and appeared to have a sufficient break. But Johnny Mellor worked hard to reel them in, at which point Andy Vernon launched an effort, broke away and started his run of 67ish second laps. The battles at both the front and mid pack were keeping the crowd entertained as the atmosphere on and around the track continued to build. However, on the night, Andy Vernon was a class above the rest, and obviously in great shape following his recent 13:11 5k, he clocked a 28:26, ahead of Chris Thompson (28:49) and Johnny Mellor (28:52) who battled it out for 2nd and 3rd respectively.

All in all it was great to see domestic athletics so well supported, and huge respect to Ben Pochee for organising the whole event. Hopefully there’ll be more to come again in 2015!