30 Minute Swim Results

The results from the 30 min swim that took place in January are now through. My 1,965m earned me 10th place from 21 in the male 40-44 category. Not bad for a national competition.

First Run Race of 2009

Today witnessed the Great East Run. A 20k run based in Bungay organised by Bungay Black Dog Running Club and sponsored by Elgoods Brewery who give a bottle of their Black Dog beer to all finishers. You'll note a theme in that the last run race I did also involved beer being given to all finishers.
The aim was to cycle there, run the race as a training run with a bit of a warm up to make it up to the 14miles long run I had on the scheduled and then bike home.
Succeeded in biking there and back. Succeeded in adding on a warm up to get me to over 14miles. Failed to run it as a steady training run, though I did manage to run it with fairly even splits at a shade under 4:30 per km (7:13mpm). Was only 20seconds off a PB and based on how I've been running lately I'm very content with that.

Ironman South Africa

Did it and did it well getting 4 personal bests on route. 1:00:05 for the swim (including shower and run up the beach to transition. 5:40 for the bike which was an absolute blast. The run was hard, but fun and completed in 4:15 making for an overall time of 11:12:25 which was 58minutes faster than my previous Ironman outing.

Finished 292nd out of 1404 so up there. But not quite as 'up there' as a couple of people I met the following day at the slot allocation session. Ended up sitting next to fellow Britts Stephen Bayliss and Bella Comerford who had won the overall race and the ladies race respectively.

A big congratulations to the pair of them. Well done also to my travelling buddy and room mate Russell Clarke, we went out onto the run together and he finished in a time of 10:52:24, 203rd overall and 5th in his age group. His time is the second fastest by a Tri-Anglia member.

Milton Keynes Half

Ran the Milton Keynes half today in a time that a year ago would have been a Personal Best. This year it was a training run. Full report on Tri-Anglia website.

Bagged a PB today

On tired legs and in the freezing cold I cycled down to Bungay today with Mark Philo, Will Hall, Jonathan Tyrrell and Penny Edwards for the 2008 Great East Run. It was intending on treating it as a training run - nice and steady. Got the first kilometre done in under 4.5 mins which would be the pace for an aspirational 90minute 20k. So, tried to keep the pace going, and did and finished in a time of 1:29:22. A personal best of just over 7minutes.
The guys didn't seem very sympathetic towards my tired legs on the ride home.
I ran in my Tri-Anglia gillet and leggings. In doing so I had a couple of other Tri-Anglia members introduce themselves to me, which I really enjoyed. They were Rory Beaths and Paul Yallop.
Ironman Wk16 round up - this week involved 23.5miles running, just one swim session of 2.6km and 214miles of cycling.

Norwich Half PB

Another PB today at the City of Norwich Half Marathon. Took a minute off my Amsterdam Half Marathon time and I had intended on treating the race as a training run. Perhaps the wind and rain helped? Time was 1:32:37.

Amsterdam Half

Had a good trip out to Amsterdam with the Norwich Road Runners trip over the weekend. Got a good time on the half marathon, a personal best (PB) by 8.5minutes with a time of 1:33:47. That works out to 13.5kmph and 7.10mpm (minutes per mile).
Quite a nice way to round up week 5 of the 24 week Ironman schedule. Shame we had to spend so much time in a coach.

Griffon 5k

Took part in the inaugural Griffon run in North Walsham. The race was described as a fast flat course, yet I found the course going down hill within the first mile and as it was a circular route, that meant that at some point it was going to have to come back up a hill. So the description was wrong. Kilometer markers were in the wrong places which buggered my pacing a bit. Found the first marker at 5m50s. The second a further 6m22 down the road. Started to wonder if it was a 5miler that had been incorrectly advertised as 5k, so rained my pace in abit just in case. Another 6m20s and the 3k appeared as we returned towards North Walsham. 1m40s later and the 4k mark was to be found and only 1m15s to get to the finish. Total time 21:30, a seasons worst by nearly a minute and nearly two minutes off my PB - still my legs were tired before the start.
An interesting route though, well marshalled with a few points for improvement. The winners still got round in 17mins and my training buddy Rob Kilbourn got a PB of 19:13 (officially though he made it 19:10) and finished 10th. I was 20th. There were over 100 entrants.

Vitruvian Triathlon 2007

Completed the Vitruvian Triathlon yesterday in 4:55:37 which is 12 mins quicker than last year. Had a bit of a torrid time on the bike. If I hadn't had a toilet stop pn the run I would have bagged a half marathon PB - bodes well for Amsterdam Half next month.

Parish 5k

Yes, I know I'm in taper mode. Yes, I know that races aren't conducive to tapering. But todays race was very low key and very social.
When I ran with the White Horse Terriers on Monday they asked if I'd like to run with them at the Parish 5k that was being organised as part of the Loddon Village Fate.
I thought that a short brisk run would do no harm - so long as I treated it as a tempo run at most. And I'm pleased to report that that was what I did.
The event attracted 18 runners, all bar 4 or which were associated with the White Horse Terriers. There was no entry fee. But despite being 'low key' the course was well signed with km markers along the way and several marshalls at key junctions (though I wish there'd been more as I managed to over-shoot one junction).
The course undulates slightly, covers various terrain (road, path, playing field and off road) and is very technical. It undulates only very slightly but there are numerous bends to negotiate.
I got round in 20:31 despite adding 50m so very pleased with that. It might be nearly a minute off a PB, but that was never the aim. The winner got round in under 19mins. My friends Darren and Rob from the Canoe Club were second and third with your's truly 4th. Gillian Bee was the third lady home.
Despite the lack of an entry fee all finishers got a medal and a piece of chocolate for their effort.
If you are able to take part in this low key event next year do. It's good fun.

Guy Fawkes 10k

I know it's not November. But as a spur of the moment thing I entered and ran this evenings Guy Fawkes 10k at Easton just outside Norwich. It was the 2nd running of this event, and I guess for whatever reason they moved the race from November to June.
Despite quite horrible weather this morning the evening was quite pleasent. Cloudy but warm. And dry despite the earlier ran. Pretty much ideal running conditions.
Plenty of other runners there from Tri-Anglia, CoNAC, Norwich Road Runners, WAC and from work. There were people there that knew me, although I couldn't put a name to all of them.
Despite a hilly course and legs still recovering from 22miles on Monday I got round in 44:11 and bagged a negative split, seasons best and a finishers medal. Incidently the medal said Guy Fawkes 10k. Perhaps that's why they didn't rename the race.

Received a medal today

My 4,045m swim in the One Hour Postal competition earlier in the year placed me 3rd in my age group. Received the medal this evening along with a cloth badge for having participated.

Waveney Triathlon

Well done to everyone at the Waveney Triathlon

Have compaired my splits and heart rate trace from this year and two years ago in this graphic --->

Bungay Marathon

Yesterday I ran the Bungay Marathon. It was my second Marathon and I ran it over an hour faster than my previous Marathon. I covered the undulating two lap course in a time of 3:39:15 (h:m:s).
Feeling pretty pleased with that.
Full article

Training Duathlon

Took part in the last of Simon Edye's training duathlons this morning. Some good things about it are that it's low key, good transition practice, short and really close to my house. Some not quite such good things about it are that it's short and I went out too hard. Also, it was flipping windy this morning. I'd put aero bars onto the bike for the event, but only got to use them briefly. Was most surprised to finish 2nd, though I did think that Peter Newton was Joe Skipper (apologies guys). I was well chuffed thinking that I'd finished the bike leg ahead of Joe Skipper.
Result can be found on the Tri-Anglia website (www.tri-anglia.co.uk)

Wymondham Spring 10 mile

Ran the Wymondham Spring 10 mile today as part of my Bungay Marathon and Ironman preparation.
The aim for the day was a slightly easier long run. I wanted to use the race as pacing practise and I wanted to pace myself round at 8.30minute miles. To make the event more sociable I rode over to Wymondham with Darren Powell (http://chairman-trianglia.blogspot.com/) and Mark Evans both of Tri-Anglia (www.tri-anglia.co.uk).
Bumped into a number of runners that I knew including Mark Crossfield an old canoeing friend who also did the Devizes to Westminster race in 2004. Mark wanted to paced round the course so we ran together, but yet again I ended up going out too fast, and then settling into 8minute mile pace before picking it up at the end. At least it was a nice steady run out.
Took some photos for the Tri-Club and composed a bit of a report that can be found on www.tri-anglia.co.uk or directly at www.tri-anglia.co.uk/2007/2007WAC2010/WAC2010Report.html

Malaysian Ironman Today

Ironman Malaysia took place earlier today. Russell Clarke of Tri-Anglia and Wymondham Athletic Club was ane entrant.
http://www.ironmanlangkawi.com.my/results.html?sel_year=2007&sel_ak=ALL&sel_name=Clarke&sel_sorting=time_total&sel_display=50
Doesn't look like he had a good time. :-?
I've subsequently discovered that it was really hot and lots of runners struggled with the heat.