Clumber Park: Take Three

I'm sure I've written about my glass feet beet before but.......
After beasting myself to a PB at the Brass Monkey my left foot (not to be confused with the film of the same name) decided it was time to fail. This was not good news with the Du season just around the corner. "The Du Season? I thought you were now a Triathlete." Yes and yes but the draw of the World Duathlon Championships being held in Edinburgh was just too much to keep me in the water. That was until my foot failed and it was either swim or bike.

So four weeks of swimming and cycling whilst I rested my foot was not ideal preparation for lining up at Clumber Park for the National Duathlon Championships (plus World Championship Qualifier). I'd managed 2-3 runs before the race just to check that the feet would be OK.
the first race of the season is always strange. you tend to forget the small details that can make a big difference. it's always good to get one race under your belt.

From the off it's fast but then again it was always going to be. This is the National Champs too so people had travelled quite a distance in order to give me a kicking. After 8 minutes of running mainly uphill i recall telling myself "This is harder than I remember". A season of Middle Distance racing where you are racing using a blend of speed and endurance and not putting it all on the line to see if you have enough had perhaps softened me up.... a lot. The reality of short course Duathlon racing hit me pretty hard. I held on knowing more than ever I had to limit my losses on the run without trying to be a hero and spending all my tokens too early.

To the bike Batman. Play to your strengths although it's all relative at this level. Clumber bike course suits me, it's draggy, rolling profile mixed with some heavy roads make it play into the hands of the bikes rather than runners (a bit like the one I caught at the end of the first lap. Clawing back almost 4 minutes and then going on to gain sufficient time to not get caught on the second run). It's not as windy out on the course as I'd have liked but things are going well until suddenly I'm sitting on the worlds comfiest bike saddle. So very soft, so very very soft. So much give in such a firm saddle. the saddle rail had snapped on one side and the saddle was no only loosely fastened to the bike with sufficient movement in it to fall off if I stood up. the second lap (final 20Km) were spent in a compromised "aero position" unable to generate max power but at least i was still in the race. Entry into T2 was a clatter of aluminium as various bits of saddle and seat post fell off the bike.

No time to thank the bike and kiss the saddle this time. Plus the fact that it had let me down, a cruel mistress indeed. Second run, 5km between me and the finish line. OMG! I'm not sure how I managed to forget how hard the second run always is but after time off from running this was horrible.

All in all it was a relief to have raced as I did. I beat some duathletes who I thought would have beaten me. Whilst i didn't qualify, it wasn't a national disaster. When the Champs are in Edinburgh (1997 Euro Du Champs and 2010 Worlds Du Champs) I don't qualify at Clumber Park. Some things just are.

Mrs H had a stomer. 16 minutes faster than 3 years ago. 2nd in her age group and 9th overall - So we were both happy and went out to celebrate Mrs H's success.

Now it;'s time to work on the run speed but keep up with the swimming. TeamMALLIE is eyeing up a trip to (tri)Athlone on the first weekend of July. So we are.