Day 85
Another ride with two reps of Mill Hill…
35km…
Day 86
2 km coaching running…Achilles still extremely sore…
Much to do in a short space of time now…
Day 89
How time flies when you are too busy t get any training done…
At last however, a 70km bike…
I only planned 90 mins and so it was a long slog back…I will need to do more than double this…
3 Likes
Day 90
A run out for the Altra Escalantes…4 km to stretch out the legs…Achilles still sore leading to a tight right calf…
Day 91
5km coached run wearing Nike tempo %s to take the pressure off my Achilles…
Day 92
Negative split run…Nike Next %s…8.5 km…
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Day 112
Planned brick day prepared for another athlete competing at the roc.
Hard bike, hard run, hard bike.
Weather dismal and the athlete opted out and so i dodged the worst of the rain and managed a 40k bike, hard 16 km run and an easier but tired 30k back on the bike.
4 Likes
Day 126
Finally a quality session under my belt.
With the Roc athlete cycling 5 of the Matlock top 10* over 55km and 1,100m of climb.
Run up to Middleton Top on the High Peak trail from Matlock Bath and back.
Then 25km on the bike over the other 5 of the Matlock Top 10* over 600m of climb.
Tough…
*The Matlock Top Ten are all 20% plus climbs…
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Day 139
Standby, standby…
Tomorrow is going to hurt…a lot…and i may not make the cut offs…
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Is it Abersoch or Windermere Roc @explorerJC ?
Weather looks class at the moment.
Very jealous - these both look like fantastic races.
Neither…
Abersoch was a few months ago - but I’d love to be racing there tomorrow…
Windermere roc was today - and my athlete was 3rd lady and Cat win…
I am racing at…
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TENBY!!! 
(Cos the Worlds Best Race, AKA MARS Triathlon has been and gone)
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Good luck @explorerJC 
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Have a great race eJC
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That would involve getting wet though 
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aaah now it makes sense
good luck sir
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How’d you get on at Zofingen @explorerJC ?
Was it Zofingen?
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Thank you for your support.
By making this public, i had hoped it would force me to do some training, but, as ever, the workload conspired against.
Without nearly enough miles under my belt, it was always going to be a tough call and i nearly withdrew to save the flight and hotel costs…but i love Zof and my annual visit has been a big feature of my life for some years now…
So, i rocked up with a plan to just do enough to meet the cut offs. The changed course is more forgiving in some ways but harder in others which i will come to.
The first run now excludes the opening climb which was a central feature of Zof. The two opening laps are much easier but don’t have that gut wrenching discomfort of the former course. At the time I was very grateful, but not for the extra km of distance.
A steady run in climbing temperatures, 10.4 km in 53 mins.
A quick transition got me out on the bike course in 56 mins and so i had 4 mins buffer to carry into the bike. the target was 3 x 2 hour laps.
I spun up the opening climb and enjoyed the descent working on my nutrition plan. The views onto the snow capped mountains were the best i have seen but the temperatures were rising. The countryside looked fab and was a welcome distraction. Being at the back of the field it was a pretty lonely ride.
I spun up the second climb - Wiliberg - which replaces the infamous Bodenberg - and needed the aid station near the top. I was already getting calf cramp and was concerned that so early on I would be struggling to make the pace on the remainder of the lap. i crested the climb in 1:06 and so had 54 minutes for the 30k to complete the lap. On the descent i was over taken by an elite lady and challenged myself to match her descending on the zig zags.
After about 30k the cramp became a repeated nuisance and the extra loops to make up the course distance was a tedious affair. And it was getting warmer…
Mrs eJC had walked out of town to meet me on the course which was most welcome and i was pleased to be round lap 1 in 1:53.
Lap 2 however was not much fun at all. I span the hills again and had another elite lady for company on the descent but i was cooked. The 30k back to town was a mix of in saddle, out of saddle, stretching legs and watching the pace drop. As much as i tried to vary the fluids and nutrition, my lack of conditioning was telling.
Mrs eJC had walked back to the edge of town and said i had 4 minutes to make the cut off. It was doable, but making the third lap was not and so i bailed at the 100k mark.
I had hoped to make the 30k second run because i was confident i could shuffle round, but i just didn’t have the heart to challenge myself over that final lap. It was probably the right decision, but I have a tough call ahead not to set myself up to fail so badly again…it hurts…
i thoroughly enjoyed Abersoch this year…low key, technical course, great fun, no pressure…and perhaps I should focus on a few fun years to get my mojo back…
15 Likes
Oh man!
That’s a shame 
Abersoch triathlon?
Not the ROC version?
Less work and more training, but work pays the bills. I guess it’s a hard call 
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Definitely not the ROC…
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