Maybe you should tri what I du

Dinners for ….

2010-10-20T22:43:00.001+01:00

Winners?

Well what were the chances of that? I knew was in with a shout but that maybe added to the pressure.

After doing a rain dance all day Saturday, it was tipping it down when I arrived at Helwith Bridge Duathlon. Its a 4 mile hilly run, a 21 mile hilly bike (using some of the Circuit of Ingleborough TT course) then a repeat of the 4 mile run.

Run 1 – Very quick off the mark trying not to give too much time away

Bike – My top tip. If it’s raining, leave you visor at home. Alternatively spend a couple of miles trying to remove it (I can honestly say I made a good job of fixing it to my helmet) then try stuffing it down the front of your tri-suit. Then back to the racing. Catch a few and try and work out if you are actually at the front of the race. Are there any more athletes ahead or are they a relay team?

Time to hit the climbs and Mark (my favourite for the win) is starting to drop back a bit. Ever attacked up hill on a TT/Tri bike before? No me neither and I can honestly say it ain’t really the tool for the job. I then had to put the hammer down and get as much time as possible.

Running out of T2 and Mark is just coming into T2. I reckoned i needed 30 seconds advantage. this didn’t look good.

My mind started to wander. How much time would I really need. Was he gaining. No. I can’t actually see him. Followed by, where the hell did he com from? I thought I was going to get caught and couldn’t decide whether to just keep running or ease off hoping that I could then put the hammer down as I was about to be caught.

Thankfully it didn’t come down to that. I came in 48 seconds clear.

I learnt a few things on that final run.

To have more faith in my abilities – I expected to be caught

I should have gone sooner on the bike and attacked from further out expecting to maximise the damage.

Anyway, the 15 cans of Carlsberg will come in handy plus the vouchers for KuduBikes in Hawes.

All in all it was a very wet second “last ever duathlon”.

I never got chance to sit down on Arthurs Seat

2010-09-12T11:01:00.001+01:00

So I've already established that I didn't rock up here in top form, so I won't dwell on that.

Thursday
Drive up to Edinburgh. Stop for lunch. Go register.
TeamHAMI had rocked up so it was time to go out for a meal with my folks down near Leith.

Friday
Up and out with Mrs H to do a recce of the run course. We struggled to make sense of the turn point until we stumbled across it on the way back. The course looked spectacular in Hollyrood Park. Having raced the Europeans on a similar course (same bike, different run) back in 2007, a quick bike refresher was called for later in the day.
Pre-Race meal was a trip to Pizza Express with Matt and Emma. the last time we met up like this was in Rimini for the 2009 World Duathlon Championships.

Satdi - Race Day
Pre-race espresso in Hotel then time to get down to business.
Time to be alone and get my race head on. Mrs H's parting shot was "Just enjoy it"
Run 1 - 10 minutes into the run I told myself "This is my last ever Du". Just enjoy it.
Bike - Oh it's hilly. I'm no climber but this was where I had to get some time back...and then some.
Run 2 - I was feeling sick on on the run course and the downhill wasn't helping. It was a hot day and with every step i could feel the liquid in my stomach bottom out and slosh around. I still managed to give myself a quite swill of with a bottle of water so that I was in a reasonable state to stop and kiss Mrs H. A small way of saying thanks for her help and support.

Tom's tip was not to analyse the race until it was over and to keep pressing on. Whilst I didn't push run 2 particularly hard I knew I was getting passed by a couple of athletes who I'd normally beat. Plus holding off one athlete who seemed to take great delight in telling me that I had a shocking second run after the Rimini Worlds in 2009. I was good to see him engage reverse gear on the climb of Arthur's Seat. I thought he was going to get off and walk. It was even better to see him going backwards on the run..... on home turf.

So all things considered It was a credible performance considering the form i arrived with. More importantly it was a nice weekend away in the sun with Mrs H.

Sundi
Time to try and get out of bed and try walk. FAIL
Cocktails sir? Espresso Bongo for me please.

Monday
Everyone hates a tourist but it was time to see the sites and work on mobility. We went to the Oxford Bar, a favourite haunt of Inspector John Rebus. John wasn't in but I did meet Ian Rankin.
Mrs H teated us to afternoon tea at Hotel Misonni then it was time to go home.

So was this my last ever du? Well I have just entered Helwith Bridge Duathlon and If I have pre-qualified for the European Duathlon Champsionships in 2011 via the National Ranking, I may just be there.... depending on where it is to be held.

What's next?
2-up 10m TT with ABD
Wetherby 10k
Helwith Bridge Du
Race bike refurb..... coffee anyone ;-)

Thank you team

2010-09-02T09:47:00.001+01:00

I forgot to mention my recent silver medal in the National Sprint Triathlon Relay Championships.

Leeds & Bradford Tri fielded a mixed team consisting of one European Champion (Jenny), one National Champion (Tim), one Elite athlete (Lois) and little old me.

Silver medal, in a National Championships, me, I know. Crazy.

I’d like to thank the other three though.

A bag of slugs

2010-09-01T22:19:00.000+01:00

I normally sit down and write how well everything has gone and how ready I am. I remember writing this last year. Little did I know when I wrote that I would produce the best race of my life. I'd be very well prepared, have no bad luck and really pull a good performance out of the bag. I look back at that race and think that's probably the best I will ever be.

Anyway, looking forward this time I can't talk about breakthrough sessions etc. I can talk about life, work, injury and a relaxed attitude to whatever happens. I describe my form as "I'm going like a bag of slugs" which is a bit melodramatic. things aren't that bad but I'm not exactly flying. Yes folks, it's time for the World Duathlon Championships. Not Rimini this time but Edinburgh.

Post European blues? Not really. I had a week off after the Euros with the intention to start building again for the World Du's. I caught a cold. No panic, still plenty of time. Then work got in the way. Frankfurt is a great place and I enjoyed running intervals up and down the banks of the Main river but it just didn't work out as consistent sessions. this is the first time I've hit my "A race" in this sort of condition over the past 3-4 years so I guess I was due one.

Even the bike hasn't really gone to plan. my bike form has been slipping over the weeks. I do feel like I have managed to turn the tide a bit and get some bike form back a couple of 10m TT PB's probably flatter as they are on faster courses than I usually ride. Run speed will be the worry as too will be the weather forecast. Never mind the spectators, I was hoping for strong winds and driving rain.

Having said all of that, I am always a different person when I have a number on. Whilst I don't have my A-game ready, I'm certain I'll pull something out of the bag on Saturday. The aftermath might not be a pretty sight though.

It's been a long year but it's also a very long winter.

Everything’s not lost

2010-08-01T13:13:00.002+01:00

I’ve had it five years. Dragging it around with me, always feeling a little bit embarrassed by it but never having time to really take care of it. I’m talking about my 10m TT PB.

An early start this morning and a trip up to Crathorne produced the goods. All this after suffering with a cold for 7 days. I suppose I was well rested then. The World Duathlon championships are approaching and I was starting to get concerned. It seems my bike form is hanging in there. I suspect that’s not the case for my run form but at least i only have one discipline to worry about then.

The Crathorne course isn’t super fast, a bit draggy but the wind was kind today.

She’s a perfect 10

It wasn’t all me, me, me either. Mrs H came up with the goods for a PB and FASTEST LADY. Sporting lucky number 10, Mrs H got her PB down to a mid-27. I’m married to a fast woman.

Feeling (too) Hot, Hot, Hot

2010-07-12T22:30:00.001+01:00

In fact so hot, hot, hot that the wheels came off.
I now must stop playing the "Duathlete Card". Ladies and gentlemen, with a 24:01 swim time I finally consider myself a Triathlete. My previous best was a 26:46 swim at Ripon when the course was actually a bit short. 24 minutes and I'm sure I can still take up to 2 minutes off that.
Anyway, where's Tom? After the Allerthorpe Smackdown, this was the re-match. Out onto the bike course, hammer down. After a few miles I ended up in a group. drafting is not permitted so I keep to my speed and pass some riders. Who then pass me and slow down a bit. Not cos of the effort of pushing the wind but actually ease up a fraction. This went on for miles and ultimately resulted in me getting a drafting penalty (notified after the race) which wasn't a total surprise based on how it had been out there. I did catch Tom and he informed me of the chaos in my wake when I went past so fingers crossed that the others around me got penalised too as it was a bit of a farce.
I was surprised how many placed I'd made up when I hit T2. Almost as surprised as I was to see Tim A in green Tri-Shorts. This was the Police Champs but it appears the Fashion Police took the day off. If you're reading this Tim, they clashed badly with your yellow/green/orange/blue shoes but you were going too fast to care.
I was more surprised when I spectacularly blew up on the run after 2km. At the 7Km point the wheels well and truly came off. I knew I needed to cool down very quickly but was trying to keep calm. Running in a straight line became a bit of a challenge too. The lights were going out. Tom passed me (it was his turn to run faster today) at the 7Km mark and showed me how to clear the style. by the finish I was seeing stars …….. and JC. So it wasn't all bad.

Tom – When I said “I’ll get you next time”, I lied.

ETU European Sprint Triathlon Championships

2010-07-12T22:21:00.001+01:00

A little bit more GB action but this time Mrs H is in on the action too.

After qualifying at Grendon and a nervous wait to see it TeamMALLIE would be heading en masse to Ireland, we packed the car to head to Athlone.

Actually it wasn't quite that simple. It never is. A chaotic week at work left me with a taper of one 35 minute run on Wednesday evening after a 13 hour day at work. A 13 hour day at work in Frankfurt, an old working 'haunt' for me but this time a different client. After taking the Manchester to Manchester flight on the Tuesday afternoon I finally managed to get on another flight that didn't have "technical issues" mid-flight and touchdown in the "land of the Rising Sausage" circa 11pm. Hotel bar for dinner. Hotel bar was an American themed diner. Do athletes eat burgers?
My 35 minute run enabled me to see how the city had changed. Staying at the Marriott (44+ floors) next door to the tallest skyscraper in town meant I was never going to get lost.... or would at least find my way back.

The flight back was uneventful which is exactly how I like my flights to be.
Get home unpack, re-pack, eat, go to bed Alarm at 5am. This sound like a taper to you?
Leave sunny Harrogate, Arrive in cold rainy Holyhead. Board the sea cat and watch plenty of fellow passengers throwing up. The crossing was a vom-fest.. Then arrive in Dublin in glorious sunshine.
It appears Ireland doesn't do signposts. We got lost in Dublin. To be fair, we were only looking for a motorway. Not a main route or anything like that.

Into Athlone itself and time to put up our tent and go register. Athlone is a very beautiful town. We should know cos we had to walk across town to complete the two stage registration process. Pick up the race stuff and goody bag and then head out for a meal. Italian tonight although a Spaniard was getting all the attention. Javier Gomez. He's nearly as good as Alistair Brownlee but not quite.

Friday morning. the sun is shining so it was time to top up the taper by going to look at the bike and run courses. . Then boy did it rain. I guess it wouldn't be the Emerald Isle if it didn't.

Race day
Up at silly o'clock for some cereal and then head into town. the benefit of Sprint Triathlon. you don't need to eat too much which is just as well cos you might see it again. You're done in time for an early brunch too.
It was a shame that we didn't get to dive off the pontoon but then again it would have only filled my goggles. I was hoping for a better swim than at Allerthorpe a few weeks before but it was still chaos. Getting kicked in my right eye for a second time was a particular low point. I did wonder if I'd get my goggles off at swim exit or if the pressure would suck my eyeball out. Swim done, to the bike Batman. After a nice long run up-hill into transition.

The bike was out and back on a windy course. Ideal for me, even better when it started to absolutely throw it down. Flying back into town with the tailwind made me realise how windy it had been. Nice to know it still felt fast on the way out. I saw Mrs H on the way back as I was still about 1.5Km from the turn. I never did catch her on the bike and I'll never hear the end of it. She did have a 10 minute head start but bragger rights go to Mrs H.

The uphill run into to transition was a killer the second time round. Shoes on and it's time to catch Mrs H. Who informs me that I might be in 4th place. AKA first non-medal winner. Time to dig deep and press on. I get caught by one runner and then catch another with 1.5Km to go. I have no sprint so decide to put the hammer down with 1Km to go and hope that's enough. It was and thankfully breakfast stayed down.

With a number of age groups in each wave and several waves out on the course it was always going to be hard to tell. my 4th was actually 7th but I'll take that. Race over and cheer on Mrs H. Now it's time for a drop of the black stuff. time to meet the in-laws. Shame we couldn't find an Irish Theme Pub.

The £ Vs €

2010-07-03T11:44:00.002+01:00

European Sprint Triathlon Championships
It rained and I came 7th. Happy days.
Time for a Guiness

Tri a bit harder - Grendon & Allerthorpe

2010-06-26T19:24:00.005+01:00

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

2010-06-26T19:10:00.004+01:00

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.

Clumber Park: Take Three

2010-03-09T10:55:00.004Z

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.

Ski

2010-01-06T15:33:00.012Z

Never been skiing before but always fancied it. We were lucky enough to get an invite to join some friends for New Year in Morzine. Jet2 laid on the flights once more. Destination Geneva.
After picking up the ski gear from the hire shop we were treated to a snow flurry. Little did we know that this was the most snow we'd see when we were there. We were treated to rain and melting snow for most of the time. Rain at beer o'clock? No sir. But yes, that was what we had. Vin Chaud for Mrs H. Simply to just warm up a bit.

Day 2 resulted in seeking shelter and coming off the slopes at lunchtime for a beer/giraffe and the Tibetan Cafe in Morzine. Well it was my birthday. From F to G too for those in the know.

Day three was a breakthrough day. The weather was good, we sat out in base-layers for a beer and my skiing was looking a bit more like skiing. From the highest peak in the resort we could almost see Mont Blanc. Perhaps later in the day when some of the cloud had lifted higher we might have done. Instead, we skied down the Col de Joux Plane. Scene of one of Lance Livewrongs big days out.

Day four is better left alone. My skiing mojo had left me but my skiing appetite was whetted for another trip at some point. Stacking it and bending a pole was par for the course.

Time to go home, time to hit the road. The snow returns just as we were leaving for the ferry from Rotterdam. Always time to get my Belgian fix. Not to be confused with Belgian Mix.

Thanks to Debs, Ethan and JC for teaching us and putting up with us. Are you mad?

Personal Beast

2009-11-22T22:25:00.002Z

Abbey Dash 10Km

Rock up late.
Struggle to find a parking spot
Arrive at the start line with 2 minutes to go.
Absolutely rag yourself for the duration of the race so that your race face is on display and you look like the Witch of Harrogate.
Finish
Feel elated
Tell Mrs H that she doesn't have the monopoly on PB's
Feel humbled that you've only improved by 24 seconds but she's improved by over 180 seconds....... again
Celebrate anyway..... priceless

Feel like an athlete
You're back in the game

Ironman 70.3 World Championships

2009-11-14T11:31:00.003Z

Saturday 14th November - Clearwater, Florida?
No, Satdi 14th, PB at the Park Run 5Km in the morning then shopping in Harrogate.

I could have been a contender
I could have been a someone
Caught up the rat race and feeling like a no-one
Picture in 220
The money and the girls
I could have been the Ironman 70.3 (Male 30-34) Champion of the World.

Maybe not

Best of luck to Debs and Dann Brook.

(Lyrics with a nod and a wink to Reverend and the Makers)

She's (run) a perfect 10 and (now) she wears a 12

2009-11-13T10:23:00.002Z

It's all about Mrs H. She bit the bullet and decided to run a 10 miler. Not just any 10 miler. The Guy Fawkes 10 miler which I regard as harder than most half-marathons I have run. On completing the course in a more than respectable time (circa 90 mins) she declared "I loved it". Which can only mean she didn't run hard enough. My run wasn't so hot after covering the first 3 miles in 20 minutes, the wheels came off and I limped/walked home in 82 minutes.

Mrs H has been shedding the pounds and pounding the pavements. increasing her mileage and decreasing her waistline. I've been ........ I'm really not sure what I have been doing. I have been struggling with motivation and form. I've had some time away from training which is good for recovery but have struggled to get in gear and start to string some training sessions together.

My 10 mile track record is shameful
- Entered 4
- Started 3
- Finished 2
- Actually raced 0
My 10 miles "PB" is less than a minute quicker than my half-marathon PB.

Maybe it's time to vanquish the demons at the Snake Lane 10. Or maybe I should forget about it and focus on the extra 3.1 miles of the Brass Monkey half marathon. Mrs H is running that one too, let's hope it's a happy car drive home this time

A cracking time at Ilkley

2009-09-14T19:29:00.004+01:00

After being cajoled by numerous team mates that the Ilkley Tri was to be a smackdown between Jonty (last years winner) and I. I finally realised that it was time to come out of post-Antwerp hibernation and bag a win.
What neither Jonty nor I had planed on was 3 faster people rocking up and spoiling the party. It didn't spoil the goading and banter between us though.

Race prep consisted of realising the week before race day that If I played nicely with the other children I stood a good chance so the equivalent of exam cramming was performed. A few sessions to remind the muscles what was expected and a trip over to Ilkley on the bike to suss out the bike/run course. I'd borrowed some clip on bars from JC as i thought my training bike was better suited to the course than my Tri/TT bike. Having already sworn that my cafe bike would never be pedalled in anger other than in disgust at a rude waitress or particularly bad coffee, using Tatiana was out of the question.

Race morning, get old faithful out of the garage and load into the...... wait a minute. Staring back at me was the mother of all cracks. An abyss in my downtube. I started to feel sick at the though of dropping downhill at 45mph the day before or doing it again on race day if I hadn't seen the crack before the race. So 'Little Albert" was returned to the garage and Tatiana (the cafe bike) came out to play. No hero bars. No problem, right?

Wrong, I'd have committed murder for them on the flat road past the Lido but you have to play the hand your dealt.

All told, fourth is a good result but i was hoping to get top 3 or even eclipse my third place at Stokesley Duathlon at the start of the year to confirm I'm now a triathlete as well as/instead of a duathlete.
(The new svelte) Mrs H pulled one out of the bag going 3 minutes quicker than she'd dare hoped and making mincemeat of the run course.

We celebrated with pasta and a Belgian beer (Affligem). Apparently there's too many points in an Indian Take-Away.

Oh well, that's it for Tri's....... until next year.

Gotta, getta new frame

Off the rails

2009-08-30T11:03:00.010+01:00

All aboard for the Harrogate Stalybridge Express

Craig's 40th birthday warranted something special so we all piled in to the Coach & Horses in Harrogate then tried to emulate James May & (TV's) Oz Clarke's "Ales on Rails" trip from "Oz and James Drink to Britain"

Harrogate - Coach & Horses
Leeds - The Brewery Tap
Dewsbury - The West Riding Refreshment Rooms
Huddersfield - The Head of Steam
Stalybridge - Buffet Bar

So when's Ilkley Tri?

Time ladies and gentlemen please

2009-08-12T22:24:00.013+01:00

....... There is a corner of a foreign field that will be forever England.

Well now there's a shelf of my fridge that will be forever Belgium.

During our recent trip away, Mrs H and I managed to consume the following.

Achel

Affligem

Bruges Blonde

Brugge Tripple

Brugse Zot

De Koninck

Duval

Hoegaarden

Hoegaarden Rose (Raspberry)

Jupiler

Karmeliet

Kasteel

La Chouffe

Leffe (Bruin & Blonde)

Maes

Mort Subite

Palm

Primus

Rodenbach

Ros (Blonde & Bruin)

Verdette (Blonde, Wit)

Westmalle (Doubble & Tripple)

In addition to these we also did a beer tour calling in at the Duval Brewery in Moortgat (home to Duval and Verdette amongst others) and the Bosteels Brewery (home to Kwak, Karmelite and Deus).

Whilst the beer is strong, it's a matter of pacing yourself. perhaps one or two on an evening. Don't rush these things, just savour.
Whilst we did have a few "nights" the only hangover I had was a post-race hangover.

So what's next?

Well there's plenty in the fridge.

Post-Race Wash Up

2009-08-05T15:05:00.009+01:00

I am sat drinking a fantastic Belgian beer updating my blog. It's a Kasteel for those in the know.
Mrs H had me limping around a few breweries yesterday

Pre-Race
Arrived at the campsite, checked out the course and then provided mechanical support for Jonny C. The emotional support would come later. Hubs sorted and tyres stuck it was time to check out the scenic bike course. Scenic for those with a love of docks. I'd be concentrating too much to take in the scenery anyway.

We then met up with the NYP Crazy Gang. Mrs H and I were made to feel like part of the gang. Well Mrs H was, I was just an associate member. Beers were drunk and food was eaten. I'll describe it as food but we were calling it allsorts when Mrs H and I both woke up on the Satdi with dodgy tummies. Satdi was race day for Mrs H. Time for her to show the locals her race face. The sun shone, we cheered and Mrs H came a creditable 14th........ once the tri-bars had been removed. This was a draft legal race. The ex-bike racer in Mr H was somewhat envious. Time then to set Mrs H's bike "Betty Ribble" up for Debs to borrow for the 70.3. Debs already has a bike but now some thieving Frenchman has it after lifting off the roof of the car at the Tour de France the week before.

Race Day
I wake up at 5am and the rain is lashing it down on the roof of the tent. I manage to sneak some more Z's but it's still raining when I do get up to eat. Antwerp is under very grey clouds, low clouds and the rain is bouncing off the roads. I packed my kit and rode down to the Swim start and T1. Its cold too, many people have chosen to put their wetsuit on to ride to the start. That would have been a good idea cos now I’m shaking (I don't do insulation. I didn't do it very well when I was 4Kg heavier). Putting my wetsuit on is tricky as now I'm soaked and the suit is getting a soaking as I try put it on. Rack and line up. It's the countdown. The "Williams mantra" is recited in my head and perhaps out-loud. "This is why we do it; this is what it has all been about". The rain keeps falling and I’m now smiling. I've lost count of the number of races and training sessions I’ve done in the rain. I'm British, it rains. This is Belgium, it rains. Get over it and keep moving on. The rain and wind should have been expected. They actually made my day. The wind was nothing to be scared of and would only slow down the weaker bikers (usually the better runners).

Swim
The hooter sounds and the human soup begins. It's a bun fight but I know I’m making good progress. I climb out of the water in a time that I am truly proud of and wish to thank everyone who helps me with my swimming.

Bike
Into T1 - time for a shave? Perhaps, I was in there a long time but it's cold, raining and windy. A gillet is required as too are the gels. Then it's time to play to my strengths. 6 people passed me on the bike. A rarity but there are some gifted athletes here so why be surprised. Stick to the game plan. Check the heart rate, check the Watts, check the time, have some Powerbar gels/bars. Keep going...

Out into the sticks at last. Through some small villages. No time for the flashbacks to training through the very same villages 15 years ago when I first came to Holland to learn how to race bikes. Then heading back into Antwerp. I've been constantly passing people but now on the home leg the streets are empty. I catch a glimpse of other riders occasionally and realise I am now at the sharp end.

Run
Helmet off, run shoes on. Grab my race hat and kiss the saddle of my bike. "Thanks for not letting me down". Running out of T2 I made the usual deal with my body "90 minutes, that's all I ask of you". I'm out on the streets of Antwerp and I'm running fast. My legs are turning over nicely and I'm passing people again. The dodgy guts are holding up and I'm actually smiling. For the moment, I'm bullet-proof but I don't know how long this will last. I take one gel per laps and hope my body will accept and not reject it. Thankfully the "small friend in the back of my shorts" is a false-alarm. I know I'm on a good pace and everything has fallen into place. The last laps sees an increase in pace and I start to run out of tokens for the meter. I know I can hold this to the finish though. Into the Grote Makt for the finish, Mrs H hands me a Union Flag and I cross the line. Fall over and have the usual shall I vomit debate.

The results were listed very quickly. third in my age group? Must be a typo or mistake. I'll have to attend the Qualification meeting to see how I've done. Perhaps some World Championship Clearwater qualification slots may role down far enough for me to find out my placing.

Presentation
In the Grote Markt, grab a glass of wine and go find out the scores on the doors. Debs (of Betty Ribble fame/frame) is there with Simon, her chief bike washer and bottle carrier. Not many slots available in that age group but they roll down a few names and suddenly Debs is heading towards the front of the room saying "I'm Deborah..." and Simon is heading to the cash point.
Onto the men’s slots....... I was wrong, there was no mistake. I was third in my age-group and a Clearwater slot was mine if I wanted it. "Yes" I cheered, followed by a very subdued "No".
I may not be going but I know someone who is. Best of luck Debs but I think you might want to get your own bike this time.

Post race - a few beers and another Italian. Did I make the right decision to let my slot go? I'll never know but I'm not sure my new "sponsor" would permit me the time off and Clearwater was never part of the plan. I'm sure whoever got the first roll down slot would thank me for it.

Plan in head was - Go to Antwerp. Go as hard as you can, make no mistakes and you will leave a good account of yourself.

Job done.
Pic's to follow. Sorry

I am half an ironman

2009-08-03T16:46:00.002+01:00

Third in my age group
Time of 04:18
58th Overall
Qualified for Clearwater 70.3 World Championships but did not accept my slot

Happy...... but very sore

I have never......

2009-07-26T08:55:00.012+01:00

Inspired by Nirvana's track "You know you're right"

Kurt says "Things have never been so swell, I have never felt so well"

Mr H says

I have never been this thin - 3-4Kg lighter than last year. Mrs H is nagging me to put on weight.
I have never ridden so fast in a 25m TT - PB now 57:02 plus that 30:00 at Pool
I have never run so fast - Steelman run leg equates to a half marathon PB
I have never swam this well - Still the weak link but I'm no longer timed on a calendar
I have never placed so high (in a Tri) - 6th at the Cleveland Steelman
I have never been this powerful - Watts up for all time trials

I have never been so ready

Destination Antwerp - Mrs H has got her guide book ready.

Time, where does it go?

2009-07-22T21:35:00.004+01:00

Lanza
Our holiday now a distant memory

Bizarre Pool Triangle
It's all about time. After setting myself the target of beating 30 minutes at the local weekly time trial I am gutted to announce a new PB of 00:30:00. Laugh? I nearly cried. I nearly threw up too but I'll spare you the details. I did say weekly but it takes a 2 week break then fails to fit with my training plan until post-Antwerp. Maybe something's just aren't meant to be.

Cleveland Steelman Tri
Welcome to Middle distance triathlon (1.9Km Swim, 90km Bike, 22Km run) the Steelman was to be my first outing at the distance and a journey into the unknown. How fast was too fast? How slow was too slow?
The swim isn't long enough to get "found out" but the bike and run are more than twice the length of standard/Olympic distance. the sun shone, the correct nutrition was gobbled and the speed was high. I told people I'd be happy with a sub-04:45 which really meant I'd like to go sub-04:30 on a good day. I was quite chuffed with my 04:23, good enough for 6th place. Perhaps I've found my niche.
This bodes very well for Antwerp Ironman 70.3

New Sponsor
Mr H is please to announce his new sponsor. New sponsorship involves public appearances at their offices Monday to Friday typically between the hours of 09:00 & 17:30. As with my previous sponsor their name will remain a mystery on this site though. I'd still like to thank Aviva for the new wetsuit, disc wheel, watch........ and fitted kitchen (pending) and the new tent which will get it's first real outing in Antwerp.
The bad news: it's a longer ride in to work (100Km round trip)
The good news: It's got a far better canteen. Edible food and everything

Ripon Tri
Having gone from Steelman to spectatorman it was good to see Mrs H set a new PB and beat the 3 hour barrier for an Olympic Distance tri. This also provided the opportunity to meet some of the NYP Crazy Gang. Destination Antwerp. Mrs H, I is proud of you.

Bring on berg-less Belgium

Credit Crunch Pro

2009-06-22T10:08:00.004+01:00

It's been a busy month or two but I'm not sure I've actually done anything.

Rode the Etape du Dales - A long day out.
1 week in Lanzarote - holiday/training
Accepted a new job
Got made redundant
Bought a shiny carbon disc wheel........ thank you aviva
Looked at new kitchens........ thank you aviva
Had 4 weeks garden leave........ thank you aviva
Left the garden well alone........ thank Mrs H

It's been chaos!

I intended to live the pro lifestyle. Pro-athlete, not streetwalker!
More training than you can shake a stick at, plus plenty of rest to accommodate the increase in training. In reality I don't believe many pro-athletes get their partners dinner ready for them, teak-oil the garden furniture or wash/wax the cars. Even so, It's been nice to have some down time. This has actually left me looking forward to my new job. Perhaps this wouldn’t be the case if it was simply returning to the old job. Who's to say?

The big push is on for the Cleveland Steelman. This will be my first run out at "middle" or "70.3" distance. After a 2 hour bike and 90 minute run last Monday I do feel ready for the challenge. Then its fine tuning for Antwerp in August.

Gotta go, it's a rest day but the shower isn't going to replace its own silicone sealant and the car isn't going to wash itself now is it?

The future's Bright......

2009-04-20T09:11:00.008+01:00

The future's Jonty. Well that might not be true but congratulations anyway to the new club sprint distance champion, Jonty Bright. Best of luck to Jonty and anyone else Mrs H and I know who are running the London Marathon this weekend.

Skipton Tri, my first tri of the year and a chance to see if all of the work I have done on my swim has actually paid off. The changing man has been swimming twice a week. Had lessons and focused on improvement of his weakest area. The result was a 06:30 400m swim. By no means lightening fast but far better than the 07:45 I was posting 18 months ago.

So 75 seconds may not sound a lot but it does leapfrog me over many other triathletes when it comes to the final scores on the doors. The bike was satisfactory and an 00:18:38 5Km run was good too. I wasn't sure how well I was running after recovering from further issues with the "glass feet" (this time I over-extended my big-toe joint) and the course including a bit of off-road. Not sufficiently off-road enough to induce a bit of my off-road mincing though.

Best of all, the sun shone.

Then it was time to recover. Back home to do a few chores, watch the Amstel Gold Race and make use of the new blender. Banana, malted choc powder, ground coffee, honey and milk.

Forgoodnessshakes make a big deal of their drinks but if you're "drinking from home", these appeal to the Yorkshireman in me. I read too that beer is a good recovery drink but doesn't help with re-hydration. I decided to over-look this particular pitfall and have a couple anyway.

Plus our Sundi guests couldn't make it round for tea and buns, so there were even more for us.

Recovery never tasted so good.

What goes a Rhonde.....

2009-04-09T21:49:00.003+01:00

It was ABD's 40th last year so to celebrate this landmark event, I suggested a trip to see the Rhonde Van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders) suggesting that we ride most of the course the day before. De Rhonde is often referred to as the "World Championships of Belgium". This is one of the monuments of cycle racing with so much history attached. It really is part of the Belgian culture.

Belgium, a country very much maligned and misunderstood. It's an honest country, it doesn't try to be anything it isn't. You can drink a different beer everyday for a year. What's not to like?

Friday
Time to check in at our B&B, The Riverside Guesthouse. Then head to Oudenaarde to the Rhonde Van Vlaanderen Centrum. A museum dedicated to this one day cycle race. At the centre we got to meet "Fast" Freddie Maertens who now works as a curator at the museum and Mr Milani of Milani Bicycles. After following the story of Edvig Van Hooydoncks 1989 victory at De Rhonde, it was time for lunch.
Time to head over to Ninove to pic up the registration pack for Satdi.
A hearty meal at the guesthouse then to bed. The Riverside B&B was excellent. Very cyclist friendly and also a great location for seeing De Rhone or any of the "Flanders week" races. Nothing was too much trouble, Jan and Harriet were excellent hosts.
Tomorrow, we ride.

Satdi
Up at an ungodly hour to head over to Ninove for the start of our ride. We decided to make a brisk start to try and get away from some of the slower riders so as not to get held up on some of the climbs. There were 19000 entrants in the days ride plus many others who hadn't registered but wanted to ride some/all of the course. The official estimate was that there were circa 27000 riders out on the course.

The climbs are often known as bergs. There are 16 classified climbs, mostly cobbled plus other climbs not classified. This was going to be a real wear and tear day out on the bike. Only 140 Km to go.

The first climb was the Molenberg. This was the first cobbled climb of the day and acted as the hors d'ouvre for the rest of the day. Cobbles, the dish of the day. Molenberg, Patterberg, Koppenberg. When I asked Mrs H what her favourite berg was, she said "Battenburg".

Climbing up to the church on the top of the Muur was almost a religious experience in itself. There were many many people lining the climb to cheer you on but this would be nothing compared to tomorrows congregation. One more climb to go then back into Ninove for a celebratory beer, chips and mayo plus a sausage. A sausage? after 140km, 16 bergs, cobbles and other unclassified climbs, What's the wurst that can happen?

We even got to see a bike shop called "AR-SE Sports" and another called "Willy Sport", great sense of humour the Belgians.

A meal in Ghent that evening was enough to convince us that Ghent required another visit, or maybe we were just trying to justify a return trip.

Sunday
It's race day, the day of the "Belgian World Championships". Belgium is closed, everyone is watching on the road or on TV. Traffic is chaos, parking in Brugge is a challenge. This is the third time I've seen de Rhonde but I've never made it to the start until today. Brugge is rammed. The central squares have been taken over with the infrastructure to support the race. We get sucked into the excitement and atmosphere until we remember that we can't return home without gifts for our better halves. It's Easter next weekend and Belgium is famous for chocolate. Job Done.
The race starts, as too does ours. We're racing to the Oude Kwaremont. The third climb of the day. The Kwaremont is often said to be where the race really starts. Midway up the climb is a cobbled square with BBQ's, Bars and a large screen. This will enable us to see most of the race without having to break Belgian traffic laws getting to other parts of the course. The climbs is littered with the yellow flag of Flanders featuring a large black fire-salamander. People have squeezed into small areas of grass banking to watch the riders almost float past them over the cobbled surface. The cars coming flying past too producing a wake of dust and exhaust fumes. All that time waiting for the race and it's all done in a matter of 2 minutes. All the anticipation and excitement for 2 minutes of race is still time well spent. The atmosphere builds during the wait and then we walk into the square to watch the rest of the race unfold on the roads we rode yesterday.

Stijn doe's it again. A Brit was in the mix for a while. The sun shone. Life is good.

Race over? No, the race to the ferry had only just begun.

Go forth to Stokesley

2009-03-23T21:11:00.014Z

Or maybe just go to Stokesley and come 4th. [UPDATE - 3rd]

First race of the season and my plan was to have good run out and see what happens. Mrs H and I were so unprepared for this race that I between us we added elastic laces to Mrs H's shoes in the car park 35mins before the race was du to start.

My plan really was:

Hang on in the first run. How fast can I run whilst still expecting to bike & run
Monster the bike to provide some good power data as a benchmark for the start of the season
Hold the run together

So my plan was pretty much the usual but his time the expectations were very low. I've got plenty of base mileage in on the bike but not a great deal of intense work. I have also had a knee niggle and not run as much as I had planned over the last two weeks. This race was simply an opportunity to see what the form was like/see how much work needs to be done.

Run1: Seemed to be going ok. I was in the mix with some good athletes.
Transition 1: Like a knife through butter. I entered T1 in 11th place and exited T1 in 7th place. I had the fastest T1 of the day.
Bike: Having sneaked out in front of a few of the runners it was time to see if they could cope wit the windy conditions. I pulled away over the 2 laps and caught/dropped 3 athletes
Run2: Caught by 1 athlete.

All in all I was very pleased. My second run was only 1 minute slower than my first and my bike wattage was only 10-15 Watts down on what I'd expect to hit in a time trial mid-season.

Good to race, good to feel the burn. Always good to feel alive. This is why we do it. I just didn't realise I'd been missing it.

So that's it for Duathlons in 2009. Seems strange as this is usually the time of year when I am flying. Usually it's Duathlon season and I'm desperate to qualify for a major championship. Maybe I need to change the title of this blog.

I'm (going to be) a Triathlete, not a Duathlete. Honest!

Then it was time to treat mum to lunch. Happy mothers day.

[UPDATE] The results now say I cam third. I'm not sure what the hell has happened as the guy originally listed as 2nd ran 25mins for the opening 5Km. I guess he was new to all of this and only did one lap of the bike course instead of two. From 4th to 3rd is better than last years 1st to 2nd.

Let battle commence. No, let breakfast commence

2009-03-09T13:25:00.002Z

Twas the Clumber Classic Duathlon. A race that has been home to both disappointment in 2007 and rejoice in 2008. Clumber is usually my first race of the season and often my first key race of the season.

After a long season last year I am only just coming around to the idea of racing. Training has started and the "A Race" is Antwerp 70.3 in August. This is conveniently some way off, as I like to remind myself. However, having looked at the results and photos from my normal season opener I can't help but feel I have missed out on something. All this despite not being ready mentally to run a sub 39 minute 10Km then bike 40Km in circa 1:04 then see what's left for the final 5Km run. I looked at the results trying to work out where I might have finished........ on last years form. This year things are different. I'm still in a build phase and not busting a gut yet. I've scratched my duathlon itch, I aim to be a triathlete.

On Saturday when the plenty of my Du buddies were giving it full gas I was out for a 75 minute steady run. Whilst they were feeling alive, I was missing the burn.

I suppose my day will come....... In 2 weeks at the Stokesley Duathlon. Now just a chance to see what form I have and build on it. However, it's the first time in the hurt box for a long while. Not sure I remember how to run or bike fast anymore.

Life gets in the way but it's not all bad news

2009-02-27T15:37:00.004Z

Knee niggle, working away for a few days, Harrogate Beer Festival. Panic not, it's a recovery week. It's all in the timing.

Sore knee after running but a few days rest should sort that out
Go to Manchester and catch up with your best man
Go to Norwich and Bristol (work related) Business Trip + Colleagues = (Curry + Beer)
Go to the Harrogate Beer Festival 2 nights on the trot and drink some beer then go for a curry. Only after Thursdays Turbo and Fridays swim session...... motivation by reward.

So I'm now at the end of my first 4 week block of training (the classic 3 week build and 1 week recovery). As you can see, I've milked the recovery but my "A race" isn't until August.

Antwerp 70.3 - Entered

(Re)Liability Trials

2009-02-15T13:00:00.002Z

It's that time of year when you see what you've got. It's no longer the hand you've been dealt but the hand you've dealt yourself. Have you done enough training, how well do you think your going? It's not too late to fix things but you don't know the form until you've studied it. If you don't know it's broke, you don't know it needs fixing.... I think you get the picture.

Reliability Trials are organised rides, not races. For many, the testosterone kicks in and they start racing for pride. In reality, if your not wearing a number you're not racing. Keep it in perspective. Ron's Reliable five is a series of five merry jaunts around Yorkshire. Not strictly true, it's more of a thrash than a jaunt. Five different clubs organise a ride each over successive weekends. You rock up, register try and ride round in a group and then limp home. There is another way.... do the above but a bit slower. It's all about getting round and getting a good workout. No coffee stop either!

Week 1: Seacroft Wheelchairs - 80Km (plus 20Km ride to/from)
Starts at Sherburn. Nice, I know where that is. If only I knew where exactly the start was. Set off on your own then and try hammer along until they catch you/you catch them. The Yorkshireman in me loves the fact that I saved the £1.50 registration fee and managed trim a couple off miles off the start (helps if you know the whole route and not just 90% of it). Not sure if i'm in front or behind I stop to read a text and then get caught by the first group at the bottom of the big hill. Hammer yourself in a small group for the next 20 miles. Run out of tokens for the meter with 4 miles to go. Turn around and ride back to the in-laws. 105Km in 03:30. Job done.

Week 2: Harrogate Nova - 80Km
Extra time in bed this week but maybe a bit too much. Missed the start and saved £1.50 but tagged onto the group as I bumped into them at Pannal roundabout. Some 2through and off" was done...... it was like old times. I felt like a roadie again until I got found out at Fountains Abbey. From then on, it was driving a small group to meet Mrs H at the HQ for a brew and a natter with my better half. Mrs H had done 45miles on her own on a cold windy day. Respect, these are the sort of rides that will make the White Rose Challenge just that little bit easier. Tough mentally but good to know you can do it.
Now it's Duval time as I type this in the living room. Loving the new wireless.
97Km in 03:27. Very steady ride out and back with Mrs H but what the hell, life is good.

Week 3: Airedale Olympic - 80Km........ Or not
Meet at the bottom of a bloody big hill. Oh Shit! On a very cold (-2 degrees when I left the house) icy morning. Snow has brought chaos to the UK. Change of plan then. 3:30 with the possibility of lying in the road after being brought down by someone else? No thanks, I'll go out for a ride with a friend. 4 hours please. 4 hours on fixed wheel.
4:15 later and I'm tucking into lunch. Safe in the knowledge I stayed upright....... watching the snow fall again. This weeks plan had me down for circa 13 hours. Still managed more than 10:30 despite the snow. Time for a banana bread beer and the ironing. Rock and roll!

Week 4: Otley - 100Km........ 130 actually
Ride out to Otley, arrive on time and finally put my hand in my pocket to pay. Rode this one with ABD and opted for a slightly slower pace than before. The weather was kind and after a small mechanical at the turn for ABD, we turned for home. Signed back in at Otley so finally officially completed one of these events. Then home over the tops. Back home for the Local meat and cheese Mrs H and I bought in Pately Bridge on our Valentines day out.
A chance to ride with David Stone and Alistair Brownlee (after his running put mine in context at yesterdays HPTT)

Week 5: Yorkshire Road Club- 100Km........ 130 by the time I got home
I'm bored of writing about these now

Reliable? You betcha!

Freezing the balls...

2009-01-19T08:51:00.013Z

Time for the annual trip to the Brass Monkey Half-Marathon in York. Despite missing last years event due to a cold I still wasn't really prepared for this years event either.

I've not done too much running of late and my run speed is well down on what it was. I have been trying to adopt a different run style which so far has permitted me to run for 60 minutes without any issues but has hampered my speed. I have persevered with this for four months now and have finally decided that it will not provide me with the run speed I require for this year.

I decided to adopt the Maitre Jacques approach to pre-race preparation (without the chemicals). So after seafood and wine and a beer and a late night, I decided to skip the wife and daughter threesome (you couldn't make this up). Jacques was legendary for all this although some suggest that it was more PR propaganda than fact.

Anyway, I lined up dehydrated and ready to go. The warm up consisted of sitting in the car putting my gloves on. It wasn't that cold, in fact it turned out nice again as George Formby would say. As you can tell, my heart wasn't really in it. This was simply a training run with a number on.

I was due to run With Jonny C (of Singpore and Reindeer fame). The plan was to get round in 01:28 although anything under 01:30 would have been deemed acceptable. So we did, as planned and ran a very even pace for the first 11 miles before "dropping the bomb" with 2 miles to go.

01:26 = Job done. 3 minutes short of a PB but it was good to get a long run in and the post race high on the way home was worth those 86 minutes.

No need to panic, the key race of the year isn't until August but it's time to get my arse in to gear a bit more now. Still time to miss sessions but maybe get a little more focus.

Oh no he isn't.....

2009-01-06T14:57:00.005Z

Well it is Panto season.

After receiving my trophy it appears I didn't win after all. I am not "First Duathelete". I am in fact second. Hopefully the engraver can spell this time.

"As sometimes happens, there's been a correction which means that you finished 2nd, not 1st, in the 2008 Duathlon Competition. The winner was actually Chris Nicoll of Derby. I had failed to connect his best triathlon score to his duathlons; he beat you by some forty points. I do apologise for this, and I suggest that you keep the trophy I sent, but have the engraved plate changed so that your trophy shows 2nd instead of 1st. I'll send another trophy to Chris, and have the placings on Tri247 amended.
If it will be of any encouragement to you I can tell you that Chris's wife Sally is expecting to have a baby in about three weeks' time, so he may not be quite so lively in 2009!"

I did say it was a bit like British sports car production. Reliability is over-rated

From an F to a G and a Cup

2008-12-31T09:57:00.005Z

It's now Twixtmas as Aunt Marge likes to call it. Typically a time to reflect and perhaps start to train again. With this in mind I managed a very hilly 3.5 hour ride on a bitterly cold day. A very enjoyable ride and a great feeling after to know that I can manage this duration of ride without any problems.

Twixtmas was also the time to run hard for the first time in ages at the Chevin Chase and then try and repeat a good run again 2 days later at the Jolly Holly Jog. This time chasing Mr C (Singapore 70.3 TeamAVIVA team mate) who was dressed as a Reindeer. Chasing Rudolph, legs said "no thanks". A good run by Mr C all the same.

Twixtmas is also birthday time. This year it means I move from age group "F" (30-34) to "G" (35-40). "You're not 35 yet" I hear you cry. It's all to do with birthdates. It appears the 30th of December just doesn't cut the mustard.

And now for the cup. Mrs H was doing some t'interweb digging and discovered that I won the Duathlon National League. Not to be confused with the Mazda National League (More of a Grand Prix Series), the National League is akin to British Sports Car manufacturing. Instead of someone tinkering in their shed to produce a Noble, Caterham etc. A Triathlon Stato tinkers with his PC and looks at lots of events. There's a shiny trophy in the post.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-23T10:18:00.004Z

On Sunday "Bad Santa" climbed aboard his training bike and headed through the rain into the hills with a Reindeer and what appeared to be a lepricon. The Grantley Arms provided shelter, food and 3 pints of Festive Folly. When we were finally wetter on the inside than the outside we pedalled home.

I'd like to wish the reader a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Good days and........ Good days

2008-12-15T09:20:00.006Z

Saturday: A day of heavy rain and heavy marble. Time to fit the new fireplace and wait for the rain to do it's thing.

Sunday: A cold day out on the bike to one of the best pubs in the dales for a few Daleside Morocco Ales and a Kwak with tri club chums. Good food, company and then a nice ride home. Well I was in no fit state to drive.

Then on to the start of Christmas at Chez Hamilton. Wrapping pressies whilst watching Sports Person(ality) of the year. Person(ality) cos Nigel Mansell won it one year. No personality there.

Man on the moon, splitting of the atom, Coronation Street on five times a week.
I said "it would never happen", "Not in my lifetime". I thought, I'd never see the day. Easy to say now but at the time I really meant it.

It happened once before but that was back in the halcyon days. Everyone rode a bike, everyone knew Tom. Today everyone drives a car and nobody seems to have a clue. Or so I thought.
Sport Personality of the year won by Chris Hoy. That's right, the british public voted for a cyclist. The cyclist won.

No too long ago I read Mr Tom by Chris Sidwells. Simply the story of Tom Simpson. Yes Mr Tom did die on the slopes of le Mont Ventoux, yes he had taken amphetamines but was widely acknowledged that he was "the type" to have ridden himself to oblivion without the Mickey Finns. Anyway, I'm sat here typing and not judging.

Mr Tom became world road race champion, won Classics such as Milan San-Remo and my favourite, The Tour of Flanders. More surprisingly, he won Sports Personality of the Year. I recall being amazed when I read that he had won. That there was a time the British public could make something like that happen. That was then, it could never happen now. Could it?

Don't be Cross

2008-11-24T09:11:00.004Z

It was a day of 2 halves. My best man and I paced our better halves around the Abbey Dash 10Km run in Leeds in the morning followed by a brief flirtation with Cyclo-Cross in the afternoon.

The Abbey Dash 10Km
Not a run on the Bank of Santader but one of the UK's best 10Km running races. Neither Mrs H nor I had been well of late but we kept our sick notes to ourselves. We lined up in Leeds hoping to get Mrs H round the course under an hour. This was after we'd battled the snow to get to the start line. It was cold but the sun shone and 58:22 seconds later we crossed the line. Well I crossed the line Mrs H loves a sprint finish so 58:18 and the bragging rights were hers. All on the forefoot and I can still walk ok today.

Cyclo-Cross
For the uninitiated Cyclo-Cross is racing round the woods and fields on a bike that resembles a road bike but has a few modifications. For me, it simply meant pootling round on my mountain bike. When I say pootling I actually mean spending 1 hour in the red wondering if I'm going to see my lunch again. This being the UK there was lots of mud, leaves and even a flight of steps to run up whilst carrying your bike.

British mud, thick, claggy and very very heavy. My MTB managed to gain weight at an alarming rate throughout each lap. The plus side of this was I had to stop a few times to remove mud from behind the forks. For the top men there is no such problem as they jump onto a "fresh" bike each lap that has been cleared of such mud by a gaggle of parents, friends and even WAGS (Mrs H, take note) armed with generators and mobile pressure washers.

Now this isn't really how cross is meant to be. I've seen it on telly, races in Belgium that are so very very fast. Usually very flat, a few obstacles and even some tarmac. In the past the big races have even had a section of the course that runs through the beer tent........... I'll type that again, through the beer tent. Now you're talking.

This was a far more back to basic approach to cross. Getting changed in the car park and no showers. As my bike gained weight it became more difficult to shoulder it and carry it up the flight of steps. This went from being some sort of endurance based session to a fusion of endurance plus strength and conditioning.

Mrs H was glad to hear me announce that I was glad I'd done it but was in no hurry to repeat the experience....... unless there's a beer tent.

Cross? I was too knackered to be angry!

Mudman

2008-11-06T14:15:00.006Z

Turned up, did it, went home.

Mudman - an off-road duathlon.

I'm not too good at running off-road at speed. I worry about my ankles and end up mincing along. As for the MTB side of things. My legs didn't play ball but it became apparent quite early on that this isn't my forte. However, it is something I enjoy doing for a bit of a laugh.

Eighth isn't a bad result and with my form.... It'll do for me.

Back to reality, from Mudman to Iron(ing)Man on Sunday night with a pile of laundry.

In the words of Elvis (on the KitKat advert), "I ain't gone anywhere, I'm just resting"

Changingman: "The Foreman"

2008-10-27T11:24:00.005Z

Who's your favourite striker? Michael Owen, a Barnsley Miner...... certainly not a heel striker.

My normal running style is one where the heel hits the floor first and the foot rolls forward until you are onto your toes. The heel actually acts as a brake and potentially slows you down.

Time for a change. The winter months seem the ideal opportunity to change my running style from heel striker to forefoot runner. I'll continue the Paul Weller theme as I look to make changes to training etc. but hope to avoid any "Running Style Council" gags.

The forefoot running style is where the forefoot makes contact with the ground and the heel makes very brief contact with the ground. This style is typically favoured by faster runners and will hopefully lead to faster times for me too. It's actually how the body is designed to run. A heel striking style has only been adopted because running shoes will permit this style. If you took your shoes off and ran you'd be forced to run on your forefoot or fracture your heel bones. Don't try this at home kids.

It does feel more natural and I'm starting with some 20 - 25 minute runs to break myself in.

Hopefully my glass feet will prefer it.

"I'm the Changingman.... What I can't be today, I can be tomorrow"
Paul Weller

Normal service has been resumed

2008-10-15T11:42:00.012+01:00

Back from holiday
- No training schedule
- No training plan to update
- No prescribed sessions
- No worries

Cafe/Social Season
- All exercise on my terms and conditions.
- As much or as little as I want
- Steady away, it's the cafe season after all
- Cafe rides optional, cake mandatory
- Went to see the Kaiser Chiefs (on school night).
- West to see the Last Shadow Puppets (on school night)
- DIY planned........doh! It was destined to catch up with me eventually

It might even be time to put some weight on for winter. Mrs H is fed up of playing point at the protruding pelvis and a bit of weight will see me through the winter. Bring on the cakes.

I'm sure the novelty will wear off.
......oh yeah, I have entered the Howarth Mudman Off-Road Du. Just for fun you understand.
Can't put my feet up for ever although I'm struggling to even think about races for next year.

UPDATE: Mrs H has pointed out that this isn't really "normal service" being resumed. I actually am adopting the habits of "normal people". She also reminded me that I am not really a cake person.

World Champs

2008-10-08T10:39:00.019+01:00

Rimini
Arrive in the city of winds, at least I'll feel at home here. Time to register and then go to the Pasta Party. Time taken to suss out the race course and meet up with Matt & Emma, regulars on GB trips. We hit the old town and tucked into some fantastic local food without a tourist in sight...... except us.

By race day the winds had dropped a bit and the sun was shining. It was actually quite warm by the time I was lining up. This is what all the hard work was about. I made a deal with my body, "give me 2:10 of your best and after, I'll treat you to a holiday".

The gun sounded and we were off. My cycling background kicked immediately and I had my elbows out to generate some space as 300 athletes went head long down the start area straight into a bottleneck. It was chaos, someone hit the deck, someone lost a shoe, bodies everywhere. I already knew the run was closer to 11Km than 10. I was running as fast as I could and my heat rate was through the roof. I had got my pre-race nutrition wrong, I could feel water sloshing around in my belly. Four laps of this twisty circuit and I could pick up my bike. The barefooted run out of transition was nearly as long as the opening run.
Onto the bike and I'm paying to my strengths. I'm constantly passing riders trying to make sure they don't draft me. Then all of a sudden, someone passes me. I can't recall the last time that happened but this is the world championships, there are no clowns here. Focussing back on the job in hand I can see a US athlete called Kyle Brady (name and shame) drafting, when he can't stay on the wheel anymore, he swings off, has a drink and looks backward for the next wheel to draft. When I passed him I was so close to the cones that he had little space to draft and I ensure that I went past him fast and clean. Anyway, at some point he incurred my displeasure. It was good to see him penalised twice by the "draft busters" during the bike. The second run was strange. It was a hot day but I started to feel very cold. I was covered in goose bumps. The second run is always ugly but the legs seemed to be going round ok and I was moving as fast as I'd hoped for.
Entry into the finish area and under the finish gantry was a great feeling. The photo of me immediately after seems to align to how I felt just before I keeled over. Emotions of feeling sick and cold were mixed with relief and happiness that the race had been a success despite the level being considerably higher than that encountered at the Europeans in 2007. I had left everything I had on the course and felt completely wasted at the finish. I'd given a year of my life to this race and was now physically and emotionally knackered. However, there was still the after-race party to go to. At this point I couldn't even consider eating let alone having a beer. 37th out of 90 in my age group. Mid-Table obscurity maybe but you had to get here in the first place and many didn't.

I had a few hours to recover and get washed up for the aftershow party AKA the Richard Findlow show. A large screen was used to show some of the high-lights of the race and Richard, another Leeds & Bradford Tri Club member was very prominent. Wine was acquired from dry tables and then onto Mucho Macho Mucho Macho for a few beers. Into bed at 2am. Job done.

Race over - Holidays begin
Time to see the sights of Rimini, Mrs H plus Emma and Matt went for a wander around town. Steps were avoided and coffee was drunk. We might still have been too. Thanks to Matt and Emma for being daft enough to join us for a couple of meals and playing at tourists. You were good company.
Mrs H had booked us into a bike hotel for the next three nights. Hotel Dory, Riccione. What a fantastic treat from Mrs H. I would never have dared suggest going there after the race but Mrs H had already booked. The bikes had their own room in the basement surrounded by other carbon exotica. Everything was included in the price from ride food to post-ride food (2 pasta dishes), bike clothing laundry, eve meal and booze. This place is a must go for any cyclist.
The guided rides took us to the owners villa for a BBQ one day, a long ride in the hills and along the "Strada Panoramica" and a ride to a local farmers for wine, oil and vinegar tasting.
Pack the bikes away Hamilton, it really is time for a holiday. Off to Spoleto for a few days including a day trip to Rome. All roads lead there after all. It wasn't built in a day but we did seem to cover a lot of it in the 8 hours we were there. Definitely on our list of weekends away know if only Mrs H can cope with me saying "all roads lead to.......", "it wasn't built in a day you know" and "nice one, centurion".
Up to Bologna to catch up with the Tenhill intake of 1996. It was good to catch up with my sometime boss Mr M. He and Family living and working in Bologna or Bolo-na as the Americans seem to call it.
Holiday over, fly home and to see that the crunch had become a crisis.

Ask not what your country can du for you....

2008-09-22T10:49:00.032+01:00

Training done, bags packed. Rimini here we come.

I was getting flashbacks this morning (aging hippy that I am... not) to when I first heard that the Worlds would be in Rimini. I was at the closing ceremony of the 2007 European Du Championships at Edinburgh. I recall seeing the flyers on the table and thinking how much I'd like to be part of it. Racing abroad (Scotland doesn't count) for GB, in the sunshine and then enjoying some time in Italy after. Can't believe its only a few days away now. Fingers crossed on the sunshine.

Training Flashbacks

Getting up at 6am in the dark to do bike sessions on the turbo (static trainer) in the garage before going to work
Run sessions in the evening after doing the turbo sessions mentioned above in the morning
Going out in the sleet in February for a 3 hour ride and not really noticing it as I was that focussed on the prescribed session
Lining up at Clumber Park hoping to vanquish the demons of my race there the previous year
Notching up PB's - Run: 10Km, Bike: Local TT League & 25mile
Going to weddings - And getting a training session in the following day - Hangover optional
Running to the Brandenburg Gate on a stag do - Hangover mandatory
Riding to work in the rain
Riding home from work in the rain knowing that I had to take the scenic route to complete the prescribed session
Riding to and from work in the rain....... You get the picture!

So now I'm left to wonder have I done enough? Am I coming off a peak of fitness or am I rested just enough to perform on race day? How much time will I concede on the first run? How much time can I clawback on the bike? How pi**ed will I get on the evening? What's Italian for "Can you swim"?

I guess I'll find out soon enough.

Mrs H: 2009 = one big race, no qualifiers, hopefully somewhere nice. Thanks for your support and patience this year

Full Circle not Grande Boucle

2008-09-12T10:59:00.012+01:00

So the blog's over a year old with a readership of just one (not me) which is fair enough, I've written this for me not you. Cheers for reading anyway Drew.

The second ever post on this blog was about a ride in the Rabobank team car at the 2007 Tour of Britain. This year it was a far more sedate affair. Rabo had decided to give it a miss due to last years "Circus" stage and the long transfers between stages.

Rather than Piet and Walter I had Mrs H and Acky Binner for company. A mornings ride in the rain (Thursday training session) was followed up with "sea and land" at a Pickering chippy then onto the final climb of the day at Dalby Forest. My initial thoughts about the race in London was that it has been a procession. However, many of the "big names" who have attended have actually raced rather than just go through the motions as I anticipated. Danilo Di Luca has been very very active and Bo-Selecta from Columbia has been very impressive. Even the Chaudieres from Rock Racing were having a go yesterday.

After doing a Wednesdays training session in the evening it was time to sit down with dinner and watch the stage. Blimey, there was plenty going on and whilst it didn't impact the overall standing it was hugely entertaining. Mrs H hasn't been well and has even been sampling hospital food so training has been shuffled around. Something's are more important than mincing up and down Rimini sea front. Mrs H, get well soon.

Thanks to Mrs H and ABD for a good day out.

What's your favourite summer?

2008-09-08T09:25:00.008+01:00

Donna Summer, Bernard Sumner (New Order) or Anne Summers?
Sure as eggs is eggs, it's not the British summer.

On a recent ride into work, getting soaked again it dawned on me that at 08:30 on an August morning in Britain I had my lights on, my feet were cold and the sky was a bruise. On a morning like that I began to wonder why bar staff (Kiwis and Aussies) come to the UK where everything is expensive and the weather is shit.

"What not to wear" - sounds like a programme fronted by Trinny & Susannah but is in fact a debate that takes place prior to each ride. Opt for short sleeves and armwarmers, expect monsoon. Go for a long sleeve jersey and kneewarners, expect something tropical.

With this in mind Mrs H and I headed north to a bike race last weekend. En route we passed other bikers with the ability to receive a lobotomy and then ride for 100 miles on their own up and down the A19....... In the sunshine. Their turning point on the road was about 5 miles before we got to the bit of road we were due to ride on. We arrived at the race HQ, collected our numbers and then proceeded to get soaked dashing back to the car. End result, the race was cancelled due to torrential rain. It wasn't safe to race with the spray generated by passing vehicles. So we headed home, back to the sunshine to replicate the race on a static trainer on the patio in the sunshine. WTF?

I'd always loved the fact that with bike races, the race goes on. No break for lunch, no rain stops play. Think of Bernard Hinault at the 1980 Liege Bastogne Liege race (pic left) when he had to be prized off his bike at the finish cos his hands were frozen to the bars. Snow stops play, bring out the covers, let's pause for lunch.... doesn't happen.

On to Sunday morning. Get up, look out of the window and it's throwing it down. Plan for today was 1 tough hour on the bike, a 10Km race (run) at Tholthorpe and then a steady ride home. Things always look better after breakfast. The sun came out, the run was a scorcher and the tan was topped up on the ride home.

At least you know where you are with British autumn.

Olympic Distance - 19 Days

2008-08-11T09:05:00.032+01:00

It seems funny the Olympics being on as Mrs H and I went to the Athens Olympics on our honeymoon.

I've been getting really into the BBC coverage and am now juggling my training with watching the coverage. TV is the new recovery session. Our telly will wonder what the hells going on. Typically it's used for collecting dust but now it's come out of retirement. This weekend training was planned in around the mornings coverage. I was that knackered on Sunday I decided against racing at Allerthorpe and had a day off watching the games. Mrs H put me to shame and went out on her bike. I was knackered and feeling in need of rest and recovery......... and this is only the end of week on. Coach Fi, you one bad lady!

I keep thinking back to what it was like on our honeymoon. Driving into Athens most days for another event. Seeing sports we wouldn't normally go and see such as beach volleyball. Sitting on the beach recovering from the previous late nights spectating or walking to the rowing complex. Driving into the hills and then catching up with the other people on an evening to talk about who had won what or who had seen what. Even watching the Greeks trying to finish off the facilities after the games had started. I kind of wish we were there again but having watched the mens road race on Saturday morning and seeing one chinaman and his dog by the roadside it just doesn't seem the same. Chinese security wouldn't let many of the would be spectators onto the circuit.

So this time it's Tsing Tao rather than Mythos.

From sheeps knackers to Prawn Crackers,
Acropolis Now to Chairman Mau....... you get the picture

Never mind world records. Athens 2004, magic times in deed.

BBC Olympic Coverage: "The Recovery Channel"
16th & 17th Aug (The Golden Weekend)
Bloody hell. Where do I start. We won a bit. Good of other nations to turn up at the velodrome or we wouldn't have had anyone to beat.

18th Aug: Tuckers Luck
Groggy at work after the alarm went off at 3am so that we could watch the womens tri. Not the best of days for the womens team but I think the GB cyclists are more than making up for that abd our over-hyped under performing track and field athletes who seem to be all attitude and no final.

19th Aug: Ali-B, I Salute You
Leeds finest (Alistair Brownlee) shakes the race up in the mens Triathlon. Always good to see Tommy give Johnny Foreigner a good licking. Alistair was giving it big licks until the final 15 minutes when the wheels finally came off his Olympic challenge. The lad's only 20 years old so time is on his side........... unlike some of us. Did he do too much early on in the race? I'm sat in an office at 09:06, he's at the Olympics so what right do I have to comment other than the time invested watching him this morning through bleary eyes. Perhaps he did but it was hugely entertaining and had me on the edge of my seat. The bin-men must have wondered what the hell was going on at 06:20 on a wet Tuesday morning and the shouts of "Come on Alistair" coming from the lounge window.

21st Aug: BMX in the Olympics & Drugs in sport
BMX in the Olympics WTFIT? Great for riding to the shops on. Depending on how far away the shops are I suppose.
Spanish cyclist, weightlifters and now four horses have tested positive. You'd have thought you'd have been able to trust the horses though wouldn't you?

Now it's our turn....
but what the hell do I watch on telly now.
When's the Vuelta? Hola

Ripon Tri: Take Three

2008-07-22T15:15:00.006+01:00

Nowt much happened.

Swam quicker than last time

Biked a bit slower than last time (windy)

Ran a bit quicker than last time (including th extra 500m)

Went out for an Italian. Ymmmmmmmm, Pizza

Job done

Of course we du, it's not all work work work Pt II

2008-07-22T15:00:00.007+01:00

Mrs B finally got married again and asked us all to attend a good old fashioned British knees up in the land of the rising sausage AKA his stag do, in Berlin.

Bratwursts, beer, cocktails (WTF) and more beer. Well what did you expect?

The Superman outfit was planned whilst the Border Guards hat and gas mask were bought on the way. The gas mask and hat raised an eyebrow when the grooms bag was searched for the flight home. Thankfully there was no explaining to do. Great sense of humour the Germans.
The stag do followed the "traditional recipe". However, what goes on tour........

The Trabant safari was good and provided the opportunity for a bunch of British idiots to drive very old cars with pre-hysteric gear boxes around the capital of the former GDR. Fantastic architecture, bad driving and a smell of two-stroke. As for two-stroke Superman went down a storm in the lap dancing club.

So this was at the end of week one of another block of three weeks training. Whilst it was still short of the planned 60 minute run I did manage a 35 minute run to the Brandenburg gate and back on Saturday morning much to the dismay of the other attendees but i didn't half feel better for it after.

Of course we du, it's not all work work work Pt I

2008-07-11T16:14:00.010+01:00

As the very bad NatWest advert went circa 1992.

Some down time indulged in during a recovery week. Another weekend, another wedding. This time we headed north to Bonnie Scotland and Loch Lomond.

Friday - A couple of hours in Glasgow and some time in the sun enjoying the sites.

Saturday - Scots wedding: Pipers, Whiskey & Kilts = Trying not to enjoy the sights

Sunday - a hangover, sighting was difficult

As an aside, Loch Lomond is home to the only curry house in the UK that serves curry dishes that not only look the same but taste the same. Maybe that's not strictly true but Mrs H and I played spot the difference with a Korma and Jalfrezi.

Glesca provided an opportunity to call in at Billy Bilsland Cycles to see Robert Millars 1984 Tour De France King of the Mountains skinsuit. This was the same day the TDF started in Brest. My next three weeks have an additional distraction. The TV is finally getting some use as I become absorbed in all things TDF. The iPod has been ditched at work in favour of the Radio5 coverage courtesy of t'interweb.

Sunday was a trip to Ae forest for mountain biking with head that was fine but was definitely not connected to the rest of my body. Trouble in the message centre. Ae is one of the 7 Staines Forestry Commission owned MTB Trail Centres. This prompted the question, "What's your favourite staine?"

As for the TDF, with all the Sprinteurs, Rouleurs, Barodeurs, Climbers and Time Trialists. I asked Mrs H what sort of ride she'd be in the TDF.

"A good one?" was her response. You can't argue with that.

Time to snap out of this recovery malarky and get back to some serious training.

Next stop, Ripon Tri

Windsor Tri - Tri Wannabe

2008-06-19T10:26:00.034+01:00

And so to Windsor, home of the Nokia Windsor Triathlon. You can keep your London Tri with it's biking up and down a dual carriageway and your run around the docks. Give me scenic Windsor every time. Windsor is always a fantastic event, always attracts a good crowd and always attracts good weather.

Mrs H was doing the sprint event which meant a 06:12 start in the water. It was my turn to pay back so I was team bitch for the first hour or two helping my lovely get into her rubber gear and try to keep her calm. The river looked to be flowing fast. This was confirmed by Mrs H when she exited the water and announced at the top of her voice "The current's f**king sh*t". Lovely turn of phrase Mrs H. She made mincemeat of the bike before the run got it's own back. All told, a solid performance and one to be proud of.

Swim: Now there's something quite liberating about meeting rubber-clad, like-minded individuals on the banks of the River Thames at dawn but that was simply the hardest swim I've ever done. Progress was slow and you'd keep seeing the same boat/tree etc as you breathed to the side. Strong currents indeed.

Bike: Blitzed the bike..... as always but had I ridden too hard to produce a good run? Hopefully my lucky comb in transition would put me in good stead. The comb always make its into transition but does generate some funny looks from other athletes.

Run: I came out of T2 at a speed. The cadence felt good but I told myself to ease slightly for the first hill. My run speed feels like it's still some way off as i build for the World Champs but I felt as if I was moving fast out on the course. In the end I was disappointed to have run 40:19 as it felt like a sub-40 run. On the plus side, I ran well off the bike without much run speed in my legs.

So that was the race. Always feels good to be part of something big like Windsor. However, my splits point out that I am clearly a duathlete.

Swim: 595th
Bike: 19th
Run: 56th
Overall: 83rd out of 1624

Once the worlds are out of the way I think it's time to become a triathlete. I know that as far as pools go the water tastes the same and the tiles look the same but Windsor really did make me realise that Tri is where it's at and that Du's may be a bit of a cop out. I predict a lot of "pool-time" post September.

I have two things in common with Jenson Button - We both drive Honda's and both competed at Windsor. Always nice to stick it to an international playboy though.

Job done - time for lunch by the castle then a few days over near Longleat with my folks. Maybe I could learn a thing about swimming from the Sea Lions.

Results

Photos

Time to tri something else, du something different

2008-05-21T12:57:00.008+01:00

In between qualifying and training for the World Champs I will be doing the occasional Tri. After a period of rest, time to let the glass feet sort themselves out and re-aquaint myself with the world of swimming it's time to up the ante.

Despite doing only a small amount of swim training during the Du season, my swimming isn't too bad...... for me. But the proof in the pudding will be the 750 meters against the current at Windsor Tri (June 15th).

It's now time to book flights and accomodation for Rimini so it's time I got my finger out and started training again. I'm one week into the plan and my calves are struggling to remember what running is and my bike legs keep asking when the next cafe stop will be. A Wednesday night test in the rain at the Triangle told me that the legs weren't in too bad shape ......... or maybe just a case of the wind being kind. Either way it feels good to get back into the routine and discipline of it all. It's not just me either, Mrs H is gearing up for Ripon Tri so the roads around Beckwithshaw are now her stomping ground. Good job she has her "bike bitch" to keep her on the road.

Wedding Season 2008: Part I

2008-05-19T10:24:00.006+01:00

Du Season over, let the wedding season begin. I've written this as part one as I'm sure there's bound to be a sequel.

Weddings are an endurance sport. With seven wedding invites this year, going down the aisle is clearly a marathon and not a sprint.
Carbohydrate drinks are out the window. Alcohol is the new drink of choice but re-hydration also plays a vital role.
We're already three weddings in. By the end of May we'll have attended 4 weddings in 2008 and three alone in the month of May.

As for wedding invites.......
After sitting by the wedding cake at a wedding (cake consisted of numerous "cup cakes" - We called'em buns in my day) the bride wanders over with a tray of "cup cakes" and informs me that "I've noticed that you've been eyeing them up all day. Do you fancy one". That's what I call a wedding invitation. The buns were very good too.

The following day Mrs H dragged me out onto the bike for a few miles. If you were riding the Etape du Dales, I was the bloke riding towards you unable to plot a steady course emitting odours of last nights beer. I've never been drunk in charge of a bicycle before although I think maybe the bike was in charge.

Ashbourne: The final fling

2008-05-01T16:49:00.011+01:00

Final Du of the (British) season. The last of the National Ranking counting events.

Ashbourne, "the home of the biker" or at least that's how I like to think of it.

12Km run around the resevoir - If only it was flat. I lost count of the times I said to myself "this is the last climb". The HR alarm was sounding most of the way round. The strategy today? Run far too bloody hard and see what happens. Old school stylee. "Old school, better than no school."

38Km bike around the rolling hills of Derbyshire. Spot the flat bit? Ride hard, use every gear and don't get cramp. That's the plan, nothing you can do about cramp. The god of cramp wasn't smiling on me. The Watts were looking good and I knew taht this was an oportunity to steal some National Ranking points on the other guys.

4Km run along the damn. If you can get your run shoes on without your calves cramping, you'll be just fine. Relatively speaking.

The race went well. I had a bit of a ding-dong with a team mate. His diminutive size worked well for him when climbing up Middletop Top on his bike but he ain't the best at going downhill so I stole the lead again and held him off for the rest of the race. Neither of us at our best but I beleive we brought out the best in each other on the day.

On the start line someone proclaimed that "This is why we do it". On reflection he's right.

When you race you feel
When you feel you are alive
Maybe it's the burn or the pain you feel
but you feel all the same and you know you are alive

Ashbourne Results

Milton Keynes: National Champs or National Disaster?

2008-05-01T16:29:00.007+01:00

I'd opt for the latter.

All the way to Milton Keynes with my Ma & Pa playing at gypsies for the weekend. The caravan was out in force but would I be?

After a very cold start to the morning things warmed up. Having tarmacced a few drives and sold some lucky heather, it was time to get down to business. I had now sorted the heart rate monitor alarm issue of Swindon and was running under the desired heart rate. Unfortunately it was so slow that I got stopped for curb crawling by the MK Feds.

The bike wasn't too bad but I was so far behind the superfast runners that I caught them so late in the race that they passed me on the final run. The bike wasn't all "honeymoon between my legs" as I once heard it described. The power readings were low the heart rate was high and the performance was average.

All in all, a long way to go (again) for a below par performance. Had I won some cash we could have bought a transit van had some chromium plating fitted to the caravan.

MK Results

Swindon: Du the Maths

2008-05-01T16:11:00.009+01:00

Swindon is a long way away. In order to break up the Journey I stayed at my brother-in-laws in London. The 90 minute drive up the M4 in near Arctic conditions was not the ideal preparation for a race but then neither was the Chicken Balti and 2 pints of Cobra. Hey, I'd already qualified, yeah?

And there lays the problem. I was suffering from a post-qualification hangover. Nothing left to aim at, motivation had dried up and I'd picked up a ligament niggle in my ankle.

I arrived at the race, snow on the ground dressed to impress. Dressed to race in the cold anyway.

I was armed with a plan to run below a specific heart rate and had set alarms on my HRM top trigger if I ran too hard. The best laid plans ......... the visual alarm was on but the audible alarm was off.

The bike was the same old. Flying past many of the fast runners and then some lapped competitors. It was a 5 lap course ....... or was it 4? After coming out of T2 in first place I bid a quick retreat, put the bike shoes back on and headed out for the final lap. My complexion must have matched my race kit due to embarrassment rather than exertion.

The final run wasn't much fun as I couldn't raise my heart rate or my game. I had started to skip many of the run sessions in training to try and let my ankle recover.

Time to head home and rest the glass feet for next weeks National Championships at Milton Keynes.

Swindon Results

2008 Campaign begins: Clumber Re-visited

2008-03-26T16:38:00.033Z

And so to Clumber Park. The site of last years debacle. Last year at Clumber I discovered that my aspirations to compete for GB were just that, aspirations. I was nowhere near making the grade. This year I was far more prepared. I knew who I had to beat and had been studying the form ........ with the aid of tri247.com and not The Racing Post.

I lined up on race day knowing that after 2 hours in the "hurt box" I would know if I was on track to qualify at Swindon in April. Clumber was intended to be part of my build up for qualification. Unaware of how my back would hold up after forcing me to rest all week prior to the event.

The opening run was a shocker, I monstered the bike and then managed to hold off all of the faster runners who had managed to stick their bikes to the tarmac whilst trying to push 53x12 into a headwind. After the initial "shall I vomit" debate after crossing the finish line. Mrs H did the maths and informed me that I might have done enough to qualify

Now it's confirmed, Rimini here I come.

Now what do I do until September?

Next stop Swindon

Clumber Results

New Year, New Duathlete?

2008-01-10T16:30:00.003Z

With plans of world domination I have enlisted the help of a coach. I decided against enlisted the services of Wrays of Harrogate and opted for thetriathloncoach.com

This has resulted in the odd early morning to climb onto the turbo trainer and a far more structured approach to my training. I qualified for the European Championships by the skin of my teeth based on a training routine (not a plan) and then performed well at the championships on the back of my own training plan. This year I want to leave nothing to chance.

Despite all this serious training I bought a mountain bike. You've got to enjoy yourself sometimes.

So I'd better stop typing now as Coach Fi has plans for me.

On Reflection

2007-12-31T09:30:00.005Z

It's the end of 2007. Yes I know it's only October but my Tri/Du season is over. All the tri's are out of the way but my run form isn't good enough to target any duathlons. I may do a few du's as training races.

The highs:
Qualifying for GB
8th European Champs
4th National Rankings
7th National Champs
16th Ripon Olympic Triathlon
3rd Team Relay Aviva Ironman 70.3 Singapore
Mrs H still puts up with me

The lows:
Discovering that my foot injury maybe early wear and tear AKA “arthritis”.
Being nowhere near qualification for the GB team at the first qualification race at Clumber Park.

The stats:
Standard Duathlon: 02:03:09
Olympic Distance: 02:13 – Stockton Triathlon
5Km Run: 17:40 – John Carr 5Km series
10Km Run: 37:30 Abbey Dash Leeds

So what now:
Swim: Making serious inroads into my current 28 minutes 1500 meter time.

Bike: Tick over, enjoy riding. Have a brew

Run: Make up for lost time. Get the running form back on track. I have hardly run since the Euros. Get some 10 and 5K’s in.

Sounds like lots of swimming and some structured run training then.

2008 Targets:
World (du qualification) domination ........ maybe i'll settle for competing

Santa Dash: Leeds

2007-12-09T13:25:00.001Z

On the start line with 120 other santas to do the Leeds Santa Dash. All proceeds to St Gemmas Hospice.

I liked the costume but thought the beard might actually be a merkin.

I think Santa won it.

Retro: 2005 Marathon Times

2007-09-24T11:57:00.002+01:00

Harrogate couple Richard and Kirstie Hamilton decided to visit Amsterdam for a few days of rest and relaxation, a chance to see the city. However, the notoriously tight Yorkshire couple decided that running round the city would be far cheaper than paying expensive European taxi fares.

In order to do “Holland on the cheap”, the couple were spotted on their first night in the European capital of sleaze seated at a Thai restaurant. Witnesses said the couple ate more rice than the Japanese army and washed it down with the smallest beer measure in Europe, 250ml of Heineken (200ml less froth).

Burning the candle at both ends meant that the couple were tucked up in bed by 10pm.

The following night the Hamilton’s met fellow MS Society runners at the Ibis hotel. The meeting was billed as a small social event. After an hour of long faces and nervous conversation the Hamilton’s grew tired of nursing mineral water. It was time to “fuel up” at a small Italian restaurant.

Race day was all smiles but only for the photographs. The air was very cool which explains why teeth were chattering whilst boarding the tram.

The day looked perfect for fast running in the 30th Amsterdam Marathon. The skies were blue and, allied to the flat course and the Hamilton’s peak fitness after an injury-free build-up, the recipe was almost complete. But the strongest winds the event has suffered for five years blew the candles off the cake. Race day was no different from any other for Mr Hamilton, an average day spoilt by strong wind.

Mrs Hamilton was seen bounding into the stadium like a wild gazelle. The reason behind her terrific turn of speed was simply that “The crowd love a sprint finish”.

Mr Hamilton described the race as “The hardest thing I have ever done” and then went on to lambaste the organisers for not including some of the historic buildings, sites and sounds of the Dutch capital. It was only later that Mr Hamilton was informed that he had run through the Amsterdam Olympic Stadium on three occasions, through Vondel Park twice and passed The Rijksmuseum, The River Amstel and a Historic Windmill. All accompanied by 5 Samba bands. It appears that being “In the zone” is not conducive to site seeing.

On Monday morning, despite sore legs, they reverted to a more conventional form of tourism. Whilst adopting a movement reminiscent of a crab, Mr Hamilton was overheard as saying “Why couldn’t Anne Frank have hidden in a basement?”

The after effects of their exertions were felt for many days but this did not prevent them finally savouring the less seedy delights of Amsterdam. Sites were seen, beer was drunk and limbs still hindered mobility.

Due to the generosity of their family, friends and colleagues, the Yorkshire couple have managed to raise a staggering £1000. Which flies in the face of northern stereotypes. Team Hamilton would like to thank everyone for their financial and moral support during the build up to race day.

5 Km	24:49	24:49
10 Km	48:31	23:42
15 Km	1:11:30	22:59
20 Km	1:33:42	22:12
Half marathon	1:38:35
25 Km	1:56:06	22:24
30 Km	2:18:39	22:33
35 Km	2:41:24	22:45
40 Km	3:04:41	23:17
Marathon	3:14:22

Triathletes du get married

2007-09-16T10:02:00.001+01:00

Congratualtions to Clare and Alan. It was a great days distraction from training.

Man, I love the cake!

Tour of Britain

2007-09-13T21:58:00.001+01:00

Another day, another blag.
This time I have blagged a day in the Rabobank team car for the Yorkshire stage of the 2007 Tour of Britain.
Before the start the dutch guys seem to take everything in their typically laid back style.

Once in the car (Sat up front with the Team Manager in the race convoy) we were off. The racing was surprisingly fast for the first hour until we hit North Yorkshire "You can't race on our roads". At this point I vaguely recall seeing a dummy being thrown out of a pram.

This provided the opportunity for a much needed pee stop and lunch. When we stopped I asked a couple of people I recognised or knew what the hell was going on as the race radio wasn't providing much information.

It was embarrassing to sit in the car at this point as the team had never seen anything like it and couldn't work out what was happening. The word "circus" was used on numerous occasions..

The race was neutralised through North Yorkshire until we hit West Yorkshire then we had a bike race again.

Rabobank had three riders in the break so we could move up to the head of affairs but the Cow and Calf climb split the front group wide open.

From this point onwards it was a "brown-trouser" drive into Bradford whilst listening to race radio as the race unfolded. I never was a good passenger.

Thanks
This time thanks to Richard for arranging the ride for me and to Piet Kuis (Team Manager) and Walter Boom (Mechanic) for putting up with me.

Aviva Ironman 70.3 Singapore

2007-09-07T15:32:00.002+01:00

After a few cheeky emails it appears we are travelling to Singapore to compete in the inaugural Aviva Ironman 70.3 Singapore Triathlon. Its' quite a long story as to how this opportunity has arisen but as all 3 athletes work for Norwich Union (Part of the Aviva group) I'll let your imagination run ragged.

Let me introduce you to the team:
Swim: Matt Cowdrey - GB Long Course Triathlete
Bike: Richard Hamilton - GB Short Course Duathlete
Run: Jon Cooper - the self titled "Anti-Triathlete"

Day 1 - Wednesday 29th August
Flew into Changi airport at 8 am and headed to the hotel. Scotty (the bike) was strapped into the boot and off we went in what was to be the first of many journeys in a trusty Toyota Crown. We headed to the event expo to register and look round but realised we were a day early. I though it was just seven hours but on reading the paperwork it did say that registration and expo would be on Thursday and Friday. I assembled the bike and tested it on the 22nd floor corridor of the Carlton Hotel. It seemed as good a place to test it as anywhere. Everything was just fine.
Lunch was Cantonese stylee salmon and a western style coffee latte. then back to the hotel to catch up on the Zzzzz's.
We called into the Aviva office to meet the Aviva team. Charles Anderson (MD) was happy to sit and talk all things tri for a while and invited us to join the team for a meal in the evening. Charles was to be filmed for ESPN regarding how he mixes his business life with his tri life. A few beers and a pizza at Brewerkz convinced me that he juggles life very well.

Thursday 30th August
We can register now. We are now armed with race numbers and a bag full of booty. Triathletes need constant feeding so we hit the Marina Square Food Court. This was our first introduction to local food so we opted for an Indian. Singafact 1. 7.9% of the population are Indian. Once Chicken Biryani later and I am good to go shopping for running shoes followed by a run with Charles in the Jungle. A 30 minute leg loosener around MacRitchey Reservoir. "Watch out for the Crocodiles". A post run plate of Pasta with Charles and his partner then back to the hotel.

Friday 1st September
Did a lap of Bugis Street and bout a Camera at Sim Lin Square. You are probably detecting a shopping theme here. Back to a food court for chicken and noodles. Not the best but what do you expect for £1? The sun finally shone in Singapore and it didn't rain all day.
We went to the race briefing a sneaked a 40 minute run on the course. In the eve we went to Chijmes (convent converted into shops and restaurants) for Chicken Soup and Thai Red Curry. Perfect for the hottest day here so far.

Saturday 2nd September - Chinatown
We went to the Indian Hindu temple in Chinatown(?). We couldn't work that one out either. A lap of the Chinese Heritage Centre was a good idea and Jon bought a silk dressing gown for Mrs Cooper. I think I modeled it very well. Hopefully every time he sees it he won't think of me. We decided to not go local today so founds a good sandwich shop. We did a lap of the Esplanade and Merlion. Jon and I were novelty value for other tourists. Jon the Orange haired man and the tall giant. Lot's of photos were taken.

It was back to race prep: We had to get the bike to T1. The cab driver wasn't impressed at first but I think you will agree it was a good fit.

On to Starbucks for the habitual Latte and then to the Pre-Race Pasta Party. Not a marquee in field but a plush dinner at the Ritz Carlton hotel. We rubbed shoulders with the pro's and local parliamentarians. Jon got to meet his heroes.
Matt finally arrived in Singapore so Team Aviva was finally ready to compete... or at least sit down with a drink and talk about it.

Sunday 3rd September - Race Day
The Singapore officials had been very efficient and had closed some of the roads early. We got at the start in plenty of time and got numbered up. 1308. It felt for like Cafe Del Mar than the start of a tri as we were all stood on the beach watching the sun-rise. Team Aviva performed solidly for a third place. Matt and I joined Jon for the final 400 metres of the run. Some people commented on how fresh Matt and I looked as we finished. We walked back to the hotel via the shopping malls to avoid the rain. We were quite a sight judging by the looks we were getting. 3 white guys, 2 tall, 1 ginger, in race kit, wheeling a funny looking bike through town.

Swim	Matt	00:41:14
Bike	Richard	02:18:08
Run	Jon	01:44:34
Total		04:43:56

On to Raffles for the obligatory post-race Singapore Sling. Not the best drink in the world but had earned it. Peanuts were eaten and shells were thrown on the floor as appeared to be the done thing.

Back to Brewwerkz for a couple then on to the after race party. Aviva had really looked after us. We were at VIP table 5, sat next to the pro's. After the party, we hit some bars in town and got back in at 02:30. Not bad for a race day.

Monday 3rd - Post-Race Hangover
To the Banana Leaf Apollo for Indian food served on a banana leaf rather than a plate. Then the heavens opened. The rain looked as if it was set in for the day so we got the tube or "MRT" (later to be renamed Mr T). Time to do a bit of shopping for Mrs H and pack the bike.
It was time to try the local Chili Crab so we headed down to Riverside Point. Prior to dinner we went on a boat cruise. A fantastic way to see the city and far more impressive at night.
The Chili Crab was fantastic as too were the Vietnamese style prawns.

Tuesday 4th September
Had a massage at the hotel this morning. Quite educational, you don't get offers like that at home. Time to call in at the Aviva office bearing gifts. The team had really looked after us so it was the least we could do.
Time to play at being tourists. We went by cable car to Sentosa Island. We rode the luge, had a coffee and went for a walk along the beach.
In the evening we went to Gaylang to enjoy the "sites" and try some local food. The highlight of which was the drunken prawns. Soak them in alcohol until they are pissed and then pour on the boiling stock.

After saying our goodbyes to Matt, Jon and I went to the Clinic. Not the most PC of bars as we sat in wheel chairs and had a beer.

Wednesday 5th September - Time to go home
Went to Lau Pa Sat hawker centre for lunch. Fantastic Lemon Chicken and Rice and a coke. The surroundings aren't glamorous but the food is good with lots to choose from. The sun appeared again and it was a hot day. Time to head off to the airport.

Thanks
There are numerous people I would like to thank for making this trip possible.
Charles Anderson - Not only a driving force behind the race but also the man who made our trip possible and provided us with great hospitality
Jessica, Jasmin, Melissa and the rest of the Aviva crew - Thanks for showing us around Singapore and making us feel welcome.
Lastly I'd like to thank Jonny C for sending the "wouldn't it be great if......" email in the first place.

http://www.ironman703singapore.com/