Report: Race 2

Welcome to the report on race two - a darn sight more punctual than the last one!
This Sunday just gone I took part in the Dunsfold Duathlon. Billed as a good introduction to Duathlon racing, it consisted of a 4.5 km run, a 15 km cycle, and finished with another 4.5 km run. Both runs were a single lap, while the cycling was three laps around a slightly longer course.
Dunsfold park is an interesting venue to compete at. A private airfield during the working week, it's not easy to find being tucked away in the Surrey countryside down unsignposted lanes. From the moment you drive through the gates there are hints that something more interesting might happen here. Is this the filming location for a popular BBC motoring show? Could be...
We started off near what you could call the turn-in for the "Second to Last Bend" on one of two runways heading roughly North-East, and almost immediately veered away from the well-known test track route to follow a service road. It was here we first saw that our race course was also being used as a driving school. Fortunately the reasonably-priced cars seemed to be keeping their distance, and frankly I had my attention occupied by the race. Without my normal pace-man Iain I was finding it difficult to hit a rhythm, and just had to settle for keeping one of my competitors within sight.
About a third of the way round this first lap an air ambulance decided to land about ten yards from the course. Dramatic enough to be slightly distracting, and impressively loud, but they seemed to be training rather than rescuing anyone I'm pleased to say.
Approaching Chicago, the course pinched together, almost forming a figure of eight. Here is where the slow coaches like me get to see the properly fast people who are already half a kilometre or more ahead. We then ran across some strange rusty red iron plates bolted to the ground (old fuel tanks? missile silos? the Stig's underground home?), then around Hammerhead, past the Follow-Through and you hit the straight back to the start/finish line and the transition station. It's here that you realise that what looks like a very flat course on TV actually has some slopes!
Into the transition area, on with the bike helmet (safety first! plus it's a rule in all these competitions) wheel the bike out and hop on less than gracefully, struggle with the straps on my right pedal, manage to get it sorted before going round Gambon.
Here's where I'm a bit more confident. I know I'm not an Olympic cyclist, but I'm a better cyclist than a runner. I've got the strength, and it's just a matter of keeping the pedals going round and round and try to be in the right gear. Three laps is a good distance, it's enough but not too much. I even got down on the drop handlebars for a couple of patches! Through this leg I'm pleased to say the only people who passed me were the leaders, and they were lapping me. I passed quite a few people, and I think I probably made up a few places I lost during the run.
All too soon the cycling leg was over. Wheel bike into the transition, off with helmet and gloves, out onto the running track again for the final leg. Jo shouts that I'm making good time, which gives me a bit of a boost. And at least this is the last section! My legs aren't feeling as positive as my brain though. They feel like rubber, heavy rubber at that. The wind seems to have picked up, and my only comfort is seeing my fellow competitors are finding it just as difficult, most adopting a kind of waddle as they coax numb muscles into something approaching a jog.
This last leg really was very difficult. It felt like I was going about half the speed I managed on the first run. Just keeping going was a battle, the number of times I wanted to stop and walk was horrible. The weird thing was, I wasn't out of breath, it was purely the dead, aching legs. I don't know how I found the energy to keep going, but I did, and I even passed a few more people (after having been passed by a few at the beginning of this lap, most of whom I'd passed on the bike).
Coming out of the Follow-Through, around the tyre wall (wrong side) and onto the straight towards the finish line. I knew this was where I should put on a bit of speed, and I tried, but I had no idea if it was making any difference. Several people pulled away from me, or passed me. I managed to accelerate a tiny amount and the finish line finally started to get a little bit closer. All I was thinking was I wanted to finish in under 90 minutes to beat my published goal. I had no idea how close I was, and couldn't bear the thought of missing it by a few seconds.
Finally I saw Jo waiting for me, and just further on the finish line with the clock: one hour, twenty something minutes - the rest was a blur. I was going to make it! I crossed the line feeling exhausted and elated at the same time.
Final result: 1:24:00
Official results and photos here.
Two races down, four to go. Dunsfold Duathlon adds 24km, making 34km in total. Come back soon for details of next month's challenge, and please visit my sponsorship site and donate some money!

Race report

Hi everyone,

I realise I've rather neglected this blog, sorry about that. There's a good reason for it though - I started a new job, bizarrely back at Lehman Brothers, but now working for the Administrators. I won't go into details as it's all boring accountant stuff.

So here I am, two days from my second race and I haven't even reported on the first race! Obviously, I finished, but importantly did way better than I expected. My original goal when I started training was simply to finish - I'd never run that far in my life, so just getting over the line was an acheivement.

As the big day approached, thanks largely to being pushed by my training partner Iain Clark (more on him later) I realised that I could hope to do considerably better than just finishing. Iain encouraged me to do 10K training runs much earlier in my training schedule than I'd planned, and by the time the race rolled round I realised the challenge was to crack one hour. That meant running at a average pace under 10 minutes per mile, something that I really struggled to do. In my best training run I managed the 10K in one hour and 2 minutes, and felt like death.

On the day the excitement of the event carried me through and I finished in 55 minutes 55 seconds, prodly running in my royal blue Catholic Association polo shirt! For that stunning success I have to thank Iain again, my pace-setter, even though he unsportingly sped off in the last 500 m to finish 11 seconds ahead of me. I also have to thank JoJo for ferrying me to and from the race, bullying me to train, and generally being supportive and wonderful.

After the race I was exhausted, but still capable of moving about and talking, which was a bonus. I also got a shiny medal (see my facebook profile picture) and a bag of sports drinks. The atmosphere was great, the organisation of the race only marred by some delays in getting the timing chips read and results uploaded to the website. The whole thing was organised by 2:09 Events, and was really enjoyable. Race report and official results are here: http://www.209events.com/event.php?event=90

I left the Brooklands venue incredibly pleased with myself and the result, but also knowing that I had to stay ambitious. I now knew that six 10Ks wasn't enough of a challenge. But where to go from here? That's the subject of my next post.

In the meantime, please go and donate lots of money on my website:
https://www.bmycharity.com/V2/60kmtoLourdes
I'm over £350 including offline donations, but I'd really like to get over the £500 mark!

Introduction

Hello everyone, and welcome to the first post in my "60km to Lourdes" blog.
I'm fund-raising for the Catholic Association, who do some great work in taking sick, disabled and elderly, as well as able-bodied people together on pilgrimage to Lourdes in France every year.
Many of you will know I've been involved with this organisation for over 12 years, and through them I've had some of my most enjoyable and life-changing experiences, and met some of my closest friends - plus of course my beautiful girlfriend Jo-Jo!
The work they do is also incredibly valuable, as you'll see if you visit the website. They've been running for over 100 years, and I want to do my bit to give something back.
I was thinking about what I could do to raise some funds over the last few weeks. In the past I've been involved with organising several sponsored walks, which started with just me, my Dad, and Matt Betts, but quickly grew to be a significant group event. What would be a new challenge? Well, one up from walking is running, right?
So I thought I'd do a sponsored 10K. I've been meaning to get fit and do a 10K run for a while.
Then, I don't know why, but I suddenly decided I'd do SIX 10Ks, one a month from March to August, in the run up to the CA's 2009 pilgrimage to Lourdes - hence the title of this blog. Unfortunately, I've told a few people about this now, so I can't back down!
Here's the thing though: I don't like running. I HATE running. At seventeen stone, I am not built to run. Guess I'd better start training...
Part of this blog will be to detail my progress between now and the final race in August. I hope you'll tune in from time to time to follow my progress. I'll be posting lots of photos, and all my results as I go. If you want to sponsor me I'll be setting up a donation website, details to follow in a later post.
My first race will be the Brooklands 10KM on 29th March. Wish me luck!