Aberfeldy race day

Some funnies on distance on the big day: Swim: 2km (officially 1.9km), in 38'37" - very pleasing, in combat conditions, and a very chilly Loch Tay (12 deg C). Employed what can only politely be called autonomous heating in the loch - highly recommended!

Weather ok, but a bit of rain whilst swimming, so damp cycling gear. A quick gel in T1, then another on the bike as it was rubbing my leg. T1 about 5 minutes

Bike: 90.87km (officially 90km) in 3 hours 23'01" - average speed a very pleasing 26.9, especially with around 800m of ascent. Loved loved loved the ride down from the summit to Aberfeldy, watching the average speed recover everything I'd lost on the climb from Loch Rannoch. On the bike, drank two bottles of energy drink, ate half a banana and took on another water which I didn't touch, plus a total of 4 or five energy gels.

T2 - nicely organised with a handler to take the bike away. Time for a big swig of energy drink, and a quick gel. By the end of the bike leg, the sun was well out, and warming up. T2 around 3 1/2 minutes.

Run: 20.16km (officially 21.1km) in 2hr13'36"- average speed 6'38"/km with the first 2 km running at sub 6 minute kms, then run/walk/run, with lots of internal bargaining (you can walk up this bit if you run down the far side, or walk 50m then run 200m). Lots of aid stations, where I took on water and small amounts of energy drinks, and ate three gels en route.

Total time 6 hours 24' 20 seconds, 241st out of around 280, and 16th supervet out of 21. But comfortably beat my target of 412 minutes - mostly due to a better run than expected, although the bike beat my target by 7 minutes too.

Chapel of Garioch 1/2 Marathon

Official time: 1hr 56'35", which is 58 seconds slower than last year. About 3 seconds per kilometre. What went wrong? Not sure yet, although I could have done with more longer runs beforehand.

I lumped my way all the way up Dubstone hill, and didn't stop at water stations (except the last one), this time, which means average moving speed was lower. Hmm

Methlick Duathlon race day

Last year:
Run1/T1: 27'56"
Bike: 40'12"
T2/Run 2: 22'39"


This year:
Run 1: 25:47 - average pace 5'00"/km as distance 5.16km
T1: 1:01
Bike: 35:47 - average speed 29.3km/hr (only 17.42 km)
T2: 0:43
Run 2: 21:03 - average pace 5'14"/km

Total time 1hr24'24" - 6 minutes 44 seconds better than last time - and faster on every leg. Very pleased - especially with a (nearly) 30km/hr bike leg. Apparently, it's only 17.5 km, so the average speed was 29.3 km/hr. Still a PB for the distance.

Total running distance today: 9.18km

River Ness 10k - race day

Going all out for the 50' 10k, started fast and kept going. Still only managed 50'42" according to the chip (I made it 10'39"). Still a PB, and my heart rate averaged 170, and peaked at 178 - so I think I left it all out on the track.

The first 5km was 21 seconds under 25', so another PB (I think)

Wet and cool - not bad for running, not windy.

Interesting to find out that last year was 51'18" - so a 38 second improvement over the last 12 months. Same again gets me to the magical 50 minutes

West Wight Triathlon 2011

Race day dawned grey and a bit breezier than yesterday.
Swim 11'59" (15" better than last time), bike 76'56" (2 minutes 56" worse - windier?), run 40'01" (33" worse).

T1 and T2 slightly slower - by 17" - shoe changing?

Overall 2 hours 11'13" = 2 minutes 11 seconds worse than last time.

Legs felt very heavy in the run - did we overdo it in the warmup?

Moray Half Marathon

Well, today was race day.

21.1 km in a sunny 17-18 degrees, from Gordonstoun via Lossiemouth to Elgin. Total time 1hr55'13" at a pace of 5'26"/km.

The first 5 miles to Lossie were nice, the middle 3 I can barely remember, but things were slowing down, and the last 5 were hard. After I was overtaken by a tele tubby with five miles to go, my legs really felt heavy and the pace seemed to slow dramatically (although the Garmin analysis shows a steady decline in pace, except for a burst over the last 10 minutes - or 2 km - which were mostly downhill or the finish).

Average heart rate 169 for the full race, with the peak at 178 at the finish

I went through 10km in 51'20", which was a PB, but the second half took a lot longer!

Stoney sprint try number 2

1 hour, 1 minute and 2 seconds. 24 seconds faster than last time.

Swim 8'18" (400m) - 7 seconds worse
Bike: 29'03" (about 15 seconds faster than last time)
Run: 21'45 (5-20 seconds slower than last time, depending on chip or Garmin) - distance 4.43km

Transitions: T1 faster, T2 slower.

Have to do the analysis properly, to see where the gains and losses were in detail.

Inverurie Sprint Triathlon

750m, 27km, 5km in cold and rain.

15'15" swim
1hr4'16" bike
23'56" run - total 1hr47'18"
(T1 - 2'29", T2 - 1'19")

Inverurie Bike Ride

Officially 25 miles, actually looks like 38.3km. Time 1hr29'51" - average speed 25.6km/hr (tough hilly course)!

REKs - 15km (using 0.4 times multiplier). Could I have gone faster? Yes, probably a bit.

Stonehaven novice tri race day

Cold and rainy. 400m swim in 8'11" (probably better than 8' for the swim only), 13km on the bike in 29'16" (average 26.7km/hr) and the run 4.48km in 21'41" - average pace 4'50". Very pleased with that.

And I beat Kevin Morrice!

Better transitions, and I jettisoned socks, gloves and went with running shoes only. All good.

Race Day!

Well, today was the day for the Knockburn standard tri.

Lovely sunshine, no wind to start. Perfect.

Swim was 30'57", bike 1 hour 30'57" and run 54'40". Transitions added 2'57" and 1'00", to make a total time 3 hours and 34 seconds. Distance not recorded on nike+ (no headphones - race day)

T1 was clearly not a success.

Obvious target for next year then.