What A Day In The Lakes
So, for the third year on the trot, I headed North for A Day In The Lakes, with a few friends
The week didn't start to well. Leading up the the race my Felt TT bike fell sick again with the re-offending headset working loose. Enter Colin Gardener AKA The Bike Magician. A bit of a cry for help on Facebook led me to his workshop and a meeting a have to say I am extremely happy about. Within 4 hours of dropping the bike off, It was on its way to a full recovery. I was so impressed with the work Colin did, the bike is already booked in for a service pre-Kona!! So, a massive thanks to Colin!! Unfortunately the DA wasn't ready for the Lakes, so the Trusty Nero RC was the weapon of choice, which, given the terrain was no bad thing.
The family came to the lakes this weekend so it made for a very relaxed atmosphere, which is always good for me prior to a race. The beauty of the venue for ADITL is that Park Foot Caravan Site is the venue, so there is plenty to keep the kids quiet while I chill out a little with Johanna. There is always a good sprinkling of triathletes on the site so its easy to talk shop to people too. This year there were quite a few of us from Chorley AC and Tri which was good to see.
So to the morning. After a wet night we woke to near perfect conditions, sunny with very little wind. I pottered down to transition to rack the bike and meet with the guys. As per usual with field based transition areas the grass had been cut, so everything was covered in cuttings instantly. I have to say, it was funny watching people carry their bikes to the racks so as not to get them covered in grass. I wonder if they carried them to the mount line after the swim???
I was met with the usual suspects, Adam Critchley, Jonathon Mann, Andy Turner, Rob Baldwin, Steve Gregory, Nicki Rushton (Nickipoo's) and a new face in Rob Darlington to name but a few. Everyone with the exception of Steve were using the race as the last brick in the Ironman UK wall they have been building for months now. Steve was just doing it because he can. He has had great season thus far and topped it off a couple of weeks ago at Chester by qualifying for the World Age Group Champs in Edmonton Canada, so a massive well done Stevie!!
Prior to the start Mr Critchley (Ex-Footballer) did something which I've only noticed today cleaning out my transition bag. Like a buzzard circling a carcass, Critch spotted me putting Vaseline around my neck so as to stop any potential chaffing and over he pops!
"Ere mate can I have a bit, I forgot to put some on mi bits!" And with that attempts to delve into the pot.
"Woh. Slow down lightning. Here is a bag. Place bag on hand and scoop away. Ensure scoop is a good un, coz the bag ain't going back into the Vaseline post nads!!"
And with that Adam got himself sorted. No drama there really. Guess what I found stuffed away in the side pocket of the transition bag! Like I said Ex-footballer!!
Nads sorted, we had a real good listen to the race briefing of which I remember 1 thing, the water temperature was 15 degrees. My thoughts Liars, it's never as warm as the organizers say, FACT!! then we took a few pre race pictures. Then the three honest triathletes who wrote down realistic swim times went down to the banks of Ullswater for the race start. Bobbing about in the warm lake (they only told the truth), Andy T asked me which way and to which buoy we were swimming to. He'd taken as much notice as me at the race briefing. ALWAYS LISTEN TO THE BRIEF!! My answer, "follow everybody else mate". Andy agreed with this cunning tactic.
The swim was great, warm, not to choppy, but was a little long. Andy and I are very evenly matched in the swim and on the bike and as a result have trained a lot together this season, which has been great. So it was no real surprise to see us side by side for the whole swim. We both exited in about 37 mins, which isn't breaking any records but was extremely comfortable for us both.
We pottered through T1 getting covered in grass to the mount line. Funnily enough I didn't see a single person carrying their bike!!
Ahead lay 56 miles of not so flat terrain, with the first big challenge of the day being The Kirkstone Pass. I managed to stay away from Andy for about 10 miles then he passed me on his shiny TT bike, about 2 minutes later I passed Nickipoo's who swims like a fish. 'The Pass' was same as always, a grind. Find a rhythm and suitable gear and get up without spending to many pennies. It never ceases to amaze me the amount of people who blast up as hard as they can then blow up later. I've always remembered something my run coach used to tell me about fell running when I was a kid.
"Joseph we don't run up hills, we run over them son!" and "It's not those who get up the fell the quickest, It's those who can carry on after!" I have tried to apply this to my cycling. and while I may not be the best you will ever see out there, it see's me right I have to say.
So that was the end of Andy, for now. The rest of the bike felt like a bit of a grind I have to say. There seemed to be a head wind for most of the ride and my lower back wasn't playing ball, tightening up a bit, causing me to stretch out and stand on climbs to change position. Mr Hosgood at Summit will be getting a visit this week!
About 30 miles in, I though I saw Steve disappearing into a house, but couldn't be sure. I rode past and didn't recognize the bike. About 5 miles down the road the aforementioned bike flew past with an angry Steve banging on about a mechanical and pretty pissed! Turns out his pedal had worked loose. Oh the joys of racing. That was the end of Steve, for now.
I rolled into T2 with a bike split of 3:03, again nothing amazing but OK. The legs felt good and I was confident of a decent run leg. As I left I saw a familiar figure.
"You better get a move on Mr Turner" There was Andy, looking good I have to say. All that training has really paid off for Andy and I'm sure he's gonna smash UK. We exchanged a few words and I got on with the run. The run at ADITL is brutal with 2 good fells to negotiate. One the first fell I encountered another familiar figure Mr Gregory. He was running a little quicker than me, so , I applied the rule I mentioned earlier and ran my own pace. We topped out on the first fell and smiled for the lovely Laura from Sports Sunday Photos and continued with the race. Then on the first descent the first mishap of the day.
As I ran down a pretty steep descent after Mr Gregory, I decided to re-enact my Howrich gymnastic routine and took a right old tumble. Gels, Salt Sticks and the skin on the palm of my left hand, hip and back all went missing. As I lay there I could only think of one thing. Where is Barry Cleminson when you need him. In fact, where are the millions of Tri Prestoners that normally turn up. Well I don't know about Barry, but it turns out they had gone to a little unknown event in Europe, Ironman Austria or something, and whats more they had hijacked my coach Ian and the lovely Emily who had chosen Austria over the Lakes. Seriously though, a big well done to all the Tri Preston lot who competed in Austria as well as Brian, Matt and Paul from FITT. Great effort guys.
So. As I picked myself up alone (Thanks for the help Barry) and removed the loose skin from my hand, I set about catching Mr Gregory again. This eventually happened and I made my way to the second fell, and what a fell. Its horrible, way too long, way too steep and way to far into a 70.3 for my liking. It's the only part of this race I feel like quitting. This was amplified 10 fold when fell running legend Rob Jebb passed me like I was stood still!
"do you know what position you are in mate"
" I don't know mate and right now I care even less" was the response. And with a 14 minute mile under my belt, I topped out on the hill.
The good thing now was the fact that it was a good run for home from here and one I usually catch a few in. Thankfully this year was no exception. I desended passing a few more along the way and ran three 6:30 miles along the banks of Ullswater to finish the event strong.
I was 11th overall and 3rd V40 in a time of 5:28:11and won a little prize to be spent at A1 Multisport which was nice. As for the rest of the crew I think with the exception of Steve with the mechanical and still doing great by the way!! all the guys took something from the race, Albiet for different reasons. For Example. Adam had a mechanical and came to me at the finish looking like he had just stripped a full car down. A thin Phil Mitchell would be a good description. Clean you bike more mate!!
Finally. I think I have to mention Manny. Manny has trained like a machine leading up to Ironman, but finished the race yesterday looking like death. The reason, not fit enough, I certainly don't thinks so. One word NUTRITION. It's massive, if you take something from every race experience, good or bad, then you are on the road to becoming a better athlete, of that I'm sure. Unforutnately for Manny he had a day similar to my Howrich race. Take the negatives mate and turn then into positives, don't dwell too much on yesterday's hiccup and look forward to the 20th July when I'm sure you will get exactly what you deserve.
And that was ADITL. Its a great event and great value for money. It is however tougher than a tough thing on tough day!!
Three weeks left and its time to taper. Hope you are all smashing it in training and races. Be safe out there my freinds
Joe D
