Woodhall Spa Sprint 2014

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Woodhall Spa Sprint 2014

Postby King Sad » 29 Jun 2014 20:41

Where: Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire
When: 29/06/2014
Organiser: One Step Beyond
Course details: Pool swim. Rural bike, paved run
Distance(s): 400m (heated) lido swim, 24k bike, 5k run
Marshalling: Plenty and happy, excellent traffic control.
Facilities: Camping/caravan pitches, changing facilities, showers, toilets, post race massage
Technical: Chip timing,
Freebies: T shirt

Wednesday-
Physio: ‘I’m not happy about this, can you cancel?’
Me: ‘Well I’ll see how I feel when I get to the run and in any case I’ll dial it back’

Race day – Forecast, showers. Woodhall is only 13 miles away, woke up to bright sunshine, thought forecasts have been known to be wrong, as soon as that thought popped into my head it started to belt down … bum :(

Registered, racked. The earlier racers told tales of wind, gravel and rain :cry: , laid out some arm warmers just in case.

Swim
Woodhall Spa’s Jubilee park has a heated 33m lido which is quite jolly. Into the pool, 30s to go – wow, toasty. 3, 2, 1 off. Well this seems to be going well. Not the fastest of swimmers but feeling comfortable, behind a breast stroker for a length. Out, forgot to check my watch but it was in T1, saw 9:25 and thought that seems alright :D

Afterwards got the results print.
8:56 - 2013 9:17, 2012 9:28 …a PB, now how did that happen? :o

T1
Bloody hell, a sharp wind and belt of rain decided it for me – arm warmers on. Took longer than I wanted but don’t regret it. Trot out, switched on my rear flashing light.
1:31 - 2013 2:00, 2012 1:57

Bike
No flying leaps; trot, pause, right foot swing over into shoe, off, left strap came out so had to faff with that. 100m out of Jubilee Park onto Stixwould road, finally got left foot sorted. I think at this point the decision to take it easy disappeared. Peeled right onto Monument road, saw a couple of riders in front and gradually hauled them in, saw a few more and did the same. Started to rain a bit, well horizontal really :shock: , good choice to go with the yellow lenses but could have done with some wipers, started to globulate. After a few minutes, huzzah, lenses de-globulated … unfortunately because of the headwind. That was the theme for the ride, globulate and fast or de-globulate and slow.Anyway… first 4k, Strava segment Monument Walk to Sandy Lane 32.7-38.8kph, 71-98rpm, 160bpm, 16th out of 137 and a PR. :D

Left from Sandy Lane onto Moor Lane, steady climb, had been pulling in and overtaking other riders and then got overtaken, ah well … Segment Moor Lane to Langton Hill climb; 30.2-42.5kph, 71-94rpm, 44/141, PR. :D

Halfway point, a long swooping descent, well a 20m drop over 1k, Thimbleby Attack, 40.8-43.6kph, 1m 47s I think about 65/378, my PR 1:40 36/378

Wibbly wobbly for next 6k and even overtook about 4 or 5 on road bikes, happy with that and quite enjoyed this bit, don’t know why, the road was a bit poxy, a bit damp.

18-21km, Segment TRI this one; 35-42.1kph, 68-80rpm, 5:00, 55/378, my PR 4:53 42/368

21-24km. No segments, final slog, wibbly wobbly, some idiot drivers. Overtook a few more and also got overtaken by 2nd rider.

Last 1k, catching up with another rider but not quite. Feet out of shoes, peel right into Jubilee Park. No fast and furious in for the last 100m but in at a decent pace, anchors on, just before halt, leg swing over, running dismount and into T2.

Quite happy with that; the ride was OK overall, seemed to be a headwind all the way, on reflection not bothered by crosswinds, could have done without the rain but June in the UK so bound to rain.

Again didn’t check my watch as my point in the rack was very close to the 'bike in' so no time to faff about as had to decide calf guards on or not.
45:27 - 2013 46:40, 2012 45:23, just off a PB :D

T2
Forgot about the calf guards, faffed about with a shoe as forgot I had a gel in it.
0:53 - 2013, 0:56, 2012 1:09

Run
After about 1k got a bit worried; my intent was to take it really steady but I’d already overtaken about 5 runners and was pulling in another 4 or so, at this point a chap from RAF tri (25-29 AG) who started 4min after me. Quite chuffed with that. Thought I’d slow down a bit as this wasn’t my A race and didn’t want any injuries.

I really enjoyed this run, I was concentrating on correct form, posture, etc and after passing some more runners I was alone for the last 2k, HR to this point 155 +- 3bpm. Last 1-2k or so, checked watch and thought ‘ooh, doing alright’ and allowed myself a slight pace increase.

Came into the finishing straight, feeling quite good, excellent in fact.
23:28 - 2013, 23:31, 2012 22:26
So not brilliant but I was very happy with that.

Total
1:20:28 - 2013, 1:22:23, 2012 1:20:21 Just off PB :D

Very happy with that. Precious little training but I just worked out the magic secret … a few weeks ago played a game of garden badminton … Woody was right all along, now where do I get me a badminton bat thing?

Previous times: overall and bike
2011 1:21:36 46:33
2010 1:24:20 49:28
2009 1:22:13 48:19
2008 1:27:41 52:28
2007 1:31:50 54:05
Last edited by King Sad on 29 Jun 2014 20:45, edited 1 time in total.
It seemed like a good idea at the time :? .



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Re: Woodhall Spa Sprint 2014

Postby Jack Hughes » 29 Jun 2014 20:44

Well done! And have the legs survived?
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Re: Woodhall Spa Sprint 2014

Postby King Sad » 29 Jun 2014 20:52

Yes thank you Jack, if anything they feel better. My physio is uber cautious and although I wanted to get this race in I was quite prepared to dial it all the way back or even stop. Looking at the data, my av HR during the bike was 161 whereas normally it would be 168, tend to be fairly consistent so confident I did not go for a complete all out attack. The run definitely was conservative and really enjoyed it.
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Re: Woodhall Spa Sprint 2014

Postby jonathon.e » 29 Jun 2014 21:08

Brilliant result, taking it back a notch, obviously works. Tried to get down to the race, but failed miserably due to other factors.
Training despite the injuries is not hampering your speed well done in not breaking too. :D
Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception.
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Re: Woodhall Spa Sprint 2014

Postby King Sad » 29 Jun 2014 21:31

Thank you; Pilates to keep the core in check and strength and cross training - seems to work :D

It would have been a soggy visit to visit though :D I should have added that for my race the rain eased off from about 18k on the bike and for the run and then picked up again when collecting my bike.
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Re: Woodhall Spa Sprint 2014

Postby CCS » 30 Jun 2014 09:32

You have got to be happy with that result, especially given taking things cautiously!
Well done.
The badminton protocol proves yet again to be the training regime of champions!
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Re: Woodhall Spa Sprint 2014

Postby Sir Jibbenstein » 30 Jun 2014 20:09

Great result. Did you dial the training back much? It is so easy to go into events over trained that maybe some time out with injury has had a bonus effect. Great the splits are PBs if not close to. Well done!
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Re: Woodhall Spa Sprint 2014

Postby King Sad » 30 Jun 2014 20:31

Thank you Clare - yes Badminton is the secret :D

Yes James, just a couple of runs in last 8wks, but instead, strength training, swim, Pilates, spin/turbo

Update on results: :D
6th in AG ... pipped to 5th by 1s, 4th 46s
Joint 2nd fastest in AG on bike :D
161 out of 564 finishers, so in top 28%, inside top 25% would have been nice.
Just ... outside top 20% on bike, all ages, at 20.57 percentile

So, once again happy bunny. :D
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