Iceman Duathlon 2011

[Sylv]

3rd race in a series of 4 winter xc duathlons, this one in Frimley off the M3, 10km run (9.2 really)/18km mtb/5km (4.6) run. Did the same event two years ago as my first duathlon and managed to finish 3rd, some 6min off the winner though, my run times being over 10% slower than the leaders. This year with a bit more run training and less weight I was hoping to lose less time on the runs and try make up for it on the bike. 222 entrants! And that’s for the duathlon only (there was also a 12km run starting 1/2h before), which seems to show a £45 entry fee doesn’t put off many people, Human Race must be doing something right there (not sure what different from the others though, got a free tshirt but could have done without it).

Not such a nice day compared to sunny Friday, drizzly on the way, bad day for bad day I thought i’d rather it be very wet and muddy which suits me. Rain stopped later though and it stayed dry. I’d singled out the competition: [url=http://www.jezcox.com/Palmares-Results.html]Jez Cox[/url], Elite and UK’s #1 duathlete, who’d expressed his intentions of winning all 4 events, [url=http://www.brooksrunning.co.uk/396479/553/en/Jim-McConnel.html]Jim McConnel[/url], another top triathlete and frequent winner, Paul Davies from Norwood Paragon the most obvious, those guys were going to be hard if not impossible to beat. No Ian Leitch X-terra winner though, he’s planning to run the Brighton half-marathon in 1h07 soon!

Now you probably don’t want to follow my example, but at 9pm on Friday i was still putting the finishing touches to my new mountain bike, that i’d built up myself and only test ridden once the previous day, riding to work (making a habit of this after the Halloween cross on new bike). Just got some second hand wheels with new bearings and freewheel, but after installing them I realised the new bearings were so sticky you could hardly back-pedal without derailing the chain. Decided to keep them on but took some spare wheels (but with summer tires on) in case it was too bad upon riding in the car park the following day .. Also took my lightweight shoes, with the short 6mm spikes, which i’d not used before. A bit worried about the trail surface being too hard-packed and rocky for them, so also packed my worn-out Adidas.

Didn’t sleep well, had a slight stomach pain of unknown origin, but was looking forward to it! After the main running race we got to see the start of the “run with dogs” race. One guy shot off like it was a 200m race, I don’t know if it was his dog pulling with forward or what, but he can’t have carried on at that pace for too long, maybe it’s important to get to the singletrack in first place with all those dogs, just as on a bike.

[img]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs043.snc6/167318_182970195069474_139504612749366_473184_2332483_n.jpg[/img]
Run

[img]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs754.ash1/164556_182971188402708_139504612749366_473194_2590649_n.jpg[/img]
Dog run

Our start was comical too, a clown of a certain weight shot off at a similar pace, which made everyone laugh, wasn’t too long before the lead group established itself though, going downhill for a while. I was keeping up with the top 5. Soon though one guy slowly pulled away, turned out it was no other than [url=http://www.tri247.com/article_6487.html]Colin Dixon[/url] (not on the final entry list), ex-age group triathlon World Champ. Then you had a group of 3, Daniel Sims, Dafydd Hollis and Jez Cox, then Jim McConnel and then me some 50m back. We did two laps, first felt pretty tough as mostly run under 4min/km, second one I felt a bit better as the pace up front seemed to ease off a touch. I was fairly happy hanging back a bit, could have tried bridging back (not saying I would have been able to) but didn’t want the “runners” to panick and start attacking in order to drop me further before the cycling. Course was always either up or down, with a few fallen trees to hop over (which were already there two years ago!). Slowly clawed my way back to McConnel who’d dropped back a little, and was on his heels all the way to the transition, Dixon was 1:07 ahead of anyone, but I was in 6th, 43s behind second place.

[img]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs273.snc6/180191_182974758402351_139504612749366_473323_298872_n.jpg[/img]
Paul Davies in transition

Transition 1 wasn’t too bad, slipped on my cycling shoes and tightened them on the go, still way slower than McConnel though. Had a gel and pressed on, on a mission to catch the others. First climb I could see two of them, and went past one soon after. Had more trouble bridging to McConnel who was going really well. Then went past Jez Cox (who may have had a chain issue, can’t quite remember). I was now in McConnel’s wheel with a few more behind us in hot pursuit, still no sign of Dixon after 5km though. Next we took a wrong turn, and found ourselves on the run course – it wasn’t obvious at all and the marshalls then put up arrows after we’d told them. The two of us stopped, with two more arriving soon after, Cox and Hollis I think. After some discussion we turned back, looking at my gps file it seemed we lost 2min riding, plus the time we spent stopped. Bummer!

[img]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs785.ash1/167550_182975445068949_139504612749366_473344_5266881_n.jpg[/img]
Jim McConnel

That was near end of lap 1 (6km). So there were now 4 of us on a chaingang mission to try catch Dixon. Start of lap 2 though we encountered back markers on their first lap, so I used my overtaking experience and pressed on to try get a gap. Got away quickly and pressed on, legs weren’t feeling 100% like is always the case after a tough run, but I was feeling ok, and the bike was performing flawlessly. Lost my second gel taped on the bike so took on lots of energy drink to make up for it. Course was mostly non-technical but with some steep, lose climbs but thanks to my (6 year old, hmm) mud tires I managed to ride all of them, but with signs of cramps in one leg. Thought I had more of a gap though, as after the final 3rd lap, whilst fiddling with my run shoe laces (I like them double-laced, forgot to do that at the Lloyd Park run and did the whole 5km with one loose shoe) I was overtaken by McConnel, who’d taken 30s less time in transition.

I got quickly back on his heels. Then a strange sensation in the legs, not cramp, but best described as if someone was whipping me with a thin tree branch from behind! First thought it was actually branches I was going over, but when the sensation subsided I realised it wasn’t. That went away fortunately, but my feet here hurting a bit at the front, with the spikes not being ideal on most of the course. On fireroads I was running on the sides in the grass, and on the few short tarmac sections it was a bit of a nightmare! Jim was slowly pulling away, had this strange sensation, I wasn’t totally dying, but just couldn’t get myself to try and keep up, it felt like I was at risk of blowing out on the remaining 3km. I kept looking back fearing to be caught up. Then on a downhill had a scary moment, my spikes catching on a rock and me falling forward, with that horrible moment when you're getting closer to the ground, still moving, and not sure whether you're going to end up in a nasty fall, or gaining your balance again - somehow managed to stay on my legs but it took what felt like 3-4 seconds - I was actually shaking after. In the end crossed the line 23s behind Jim, in 3rd place. Dixon had gone well on the bike (2”50 faster than me, not accounting for lost time) and probably cruised the final run leg, as he was only 20s faster than me, and I didn’t feel all that fast. Paul Davies DNFd on account of bad legs on the bike. Looked out for an ACC jersey but didn’t see Simon unfortunately, though he finished as I can see in the results.

[img]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs794.ash1/168458_182825308417296_139504612749366_472275_3996467_n.jpg[/img]
Colin dixon

[img]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs898.ash1/180633_182981991734961_139504612749366_473557_4508907_n.jpg[/img]
Jez Cox

[img]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs890.ash1/179835_182981581735002_139504612749366_473535_1717886_n.jpg[/img]

Enjoyed that a lot, so just entered the final round, in Pippingford just around the corner, which should have a more adequate mtb course as it's being used by Southern Xc, and I raced there once in the summer. Looking into different running shoes with a quick-entry system .. Shame about the time lost on the bike, don't think it would have changed the results, but the time gaps would have been smaller. Podium is actually exactly the same as my previous time in this race!

[img]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs003.snc6/165394_182981801734980_139504612749366_473548_7765275_n.jpg[/img]

[carl f]

Nice one sylv,great result,i was surprised to see jez cox finish in 6th though
For £45 you'd also expect human race to sort the signs out as well!
Sounds like wearing spikes was the wrong decision?. Trouble is with off road shoes (trail or spikes) and elastic laces is that if the course is too muddy in places you will leave them behind in the mud. Perhaps its worth taking the spikes and your trail shoes to the final race and checking out the run route in your warm up
I like the look of the human race off rd du's but at 45 sheets........
Carl

[Dominic]

Nice result Sylv against some serious competition!!!

The entry prices do make me laugh(or is that cry) though, having just forked out £62 for the Spring Ballbuster and £85 for the Marshman in May. That's about as much as I spend a year on TTing

[Paul H]

Nice one Sylv. Surely you must have got your race fee back for coming 3rd?

[Sylv]

I don't know yet, they said they'd send prizes in the post, no prize money in these. With Asics as sponsors, probably yet more shoes

[EdO]

Well done Sylv inspiring stuff. Great write up.

[stamourp]

Great result. I am a big admirer of the confident pre-race bike building preparation approach.

Thanks

Peter