Tri a bit harder - Grendon & Allerthorpe

Having spent all of 2009 tri-ing to be a triathlete, I qualified for the 70.3 world champs. Half Ironman distance was perhaps my forte. the swim is a bit longer than Olympic distance but the bike and run are about twice the distance of Olympic so there i plenty of time to get back what you've given away. With all of that in mind I decided that Sprint Distance triathlon was the thing for 2010. Alternatively this was my side project. Dave Grohl has them crooked vultures, Jack White has the Raconteurs. Sprint Triis 750m swim, 20Km bike and 5km run for those not in the know.

Grendon
Time to go and qualify for the Europeans. It was Mrs H's idea to qualify and I thought I'd join her. However, the plan was always for both of us to go. It was all (of TeamMALLIE) or nothing.
My race went well. I still had the bike and run form from the Du's and the swim didn't go too badly. Mrs H was still on the run after I'd crossed the line, done the maths and realised I'd got a qualifying spot. Out onto the course to cheer on the Gaffer. After a big cheer which was met with a "I can do it" as she tried to convince herself I took a short cut to the finish and tried to stifle my own tears whilst watching Mrs H in the hurtbox. She'd not really focused on something like this before and wasn't sure if it was a realistic ambition or not.
Meeting up at the finish line resulted in Mrs H expecting the worst. We knew an automatic qualification spot was unlikely and that the time she finished in would be essential. Maths was done on the fly but you never know for sure until you get confirmation.
Thankfully all of TeamMALLIE will be in Ireland, so they will.

QEII Sprint Tri
Not much to say other than provide this top tip. Don't ride the National 25 Mile Time Trial the day before driving all the way up north to do a Triathlon. Thankfully it was on too early for the local yoofs to start throwing half-charlies.

Allerthorpe
A pre-European warm up and a club smackdown.
Mrs H was full of cold so race duties were performed by moi.
the swim was a fist fight. I have never experienced such a crazy swim. I managed a maximum of 6 strokes before someone either swam over me or I ended up swimming over somebody else. Absolute chaos in human soup.
Out onto the bike and it's time to see what's WATT. The numbers weren't great but this was my third race of the week. Always nice to pass people but no time to say hello. I was out hunting for a blue tri top with a small St Georges flag on the back. After passing through T2 quicker than the previous nights curry through me I was out on the run chasing a small figure on the horizon in the blue kit. Even at the turn point when we passed each other in different directions, he didn't look any bigger . The final 2.5 Km saw me gaining ground on Tom throughout but not enough and he had 4 seconds to spare. I'll adopt a cartoon villains voice when I say "I'll get you next time"... but I probably wont. Tickets to watch the next smackdown at Ripon Tri are selling fast.

So it's been pretty hectic. I've been tweeting rather than blogging. I didn't realise anybody actually reads this rubbish.

Du, Tri & Keep up

Back by popular demand. Someone demanded an update at Otley Town Centre Races. So this ones for Mr T... not th eone on the Snickers ad.

So it's been a while

I've been working on swim, bike and run after the disappointment of Clumber. Clumber was one tough race too soon for me after my stress fracture. I'd had some encouraging results at Park Run 5Km races and a couple of time trials suggested that the bike form was coming along nicely. A new saddle was added so hopefully there'd be no mechanicals going forward.... at speed.

Stokesley Du
Having placed 3rd there last year and the athletes who beat me not showing up I was up for the chance of a win, right? Wrong. I'll take 4th then.
The run was ok the bike was good and the second run was a bit pony. Meeting up with an ex-colleague was the high-light.
Mrs H had a good race too so all in the garden was rosy.
The highlight for me was passing a team mate for the second year in a row..... in transition. He never saw me pass him, too busy looking for the change tent I guess.

I stilll need to spend my winnings.

Milton Keynes Du
Not the national Champs but always worthy of a good turn out. this year was no different and thankfully I rose to the occasion. Opening up with a 36:15 10Km whilst still feeling as if there was a little more in the tank was a good start. Often these courses are not measured that accurately but this is used for 10Km Amateur Athletic Association approved races so with a few tweaks for in and out of transition this was pretty much bang on 10km.
The bike wasn't great. I made good progress but never felt like I was really hitting the numbers.
Then onto the second run which wasn't the suffer-fest it normally is. Whilst the time wasn't fantastic (20:20 for 5.4Km) I didn't really get run down.
One duathlete passed me that did matter. He took the last qualifying slot available at Milton Keynes and beat me by 18 seconds. Always nice to be passed by someone in these circumstances. You're breathing out of your arse and all you want to do is shout "You've just knicked my ticket to Edinburgh" then smack them in the knackers.
Qualification is still looking like a strong possibility based on the maths but It would be nice to secure a slot based on a finish placing rather than down to time.
Roll on Cambridge then into the open water and then it's time for a quick rest. End of Act I.

Cambridge

We've been here before. If the big day out is in Edinburgh then I qualify at Cambridge. And I did just that after a fun day out in the rain and gales. The new deep section rim was a challenge to keep straight in the cross winds but a good bike and a solid second run got me the 3 qualification spot.

Down time? Dont you beleive it. A small matter of qualifying for the Sprint Triathlon European Champs is just around the corner.