Its now been two weeks since I raced at the European Duathlon Championships in Kalkar, Germany and I guess its time for me to reflect back on the build up, the race and the overall experience.
In the weeks leading up to this training had been going well and I was feeling fit and strong. I placed highly in my warm up duathlon in Durham so was heading to the Europeans full of confidence. I had planned to race in one final TT on Tuesday (the day before I was due to travel down south), however unfortunately the race organisers had to reschedule, so I resulted to one last hard session on the turbo. This was a shame as I find it really hard to push myself as hard in training as I would with a number on my back.
Wednesday - This started off as normal for me, up at 7 am, enjoying a coffee watching Sky Sports News before breakfast and getting ready for work. I worked until lunchtime, said my goodbyes and enjoyed all the words of good luck and support from my friends and colleagues. My plans were to travel down to Surrey and stay the night at Ian's (www.gearsandtears.com) house before travelling the rest of the way to Germany on Thursday. The drive down wasn't too bad considering I hit the M25 close to rush hour. After checking in to Chateau Mayhew, having a good catch up, we took a leisurely stroll to his local Italian restaurant. The food was awesome and I'm glad he advised me on ordering the calzone, I wasn't disappointed. We then wondered back continued chatting before turning in.
All packed and ready to rock.
Thursday - I started the day off with a lie-in before heading out for a relaxed 30-min run in the Surrey countryside. Once back it was shower and breakfast time before making my way down to Folkestone. Before boarding the Channel Tunnel I took a slight de-tour to the station to pick up my mum, who was going to be my #1 fan for this race. Once greeting mum we then drove to the Channel Tunnel. Finding the tunnel and boarding the train was super easy and stress free. It was only a 35 minute crossing, so we got to France around lunchtime. We decided to crack on and start making headway into the 300 mile ish drive to Kalkar. We were going along really nicely and made good headway so we decided to stop off at the services for a spot of lunch and a coffee. Once through France we were then into Belgium, this is where we started to slow down. We were surprised to find out that the motorways take you really close to the city centres and as a result lots of traffic! This continued to be the theme of our journey through Belgium. Once through Belgium and into Holland and Germany we didn't get held up again and the rest of the journey remained stress free. We arrived at the team hotel and race venue Wunderland, Kalkar at around 9 pm. This was a good hour later than anticipated as the traffic in Belgium really slowed us down. We checked in and headed straight to the restaurant, fortunately they were still serving food. After food and a much needed drink we were both shattered. En route to bed I checked the team notice board to find out the final plans for the weekend, specifically the pre-race brief and the organised bike course recce.
Friday - I chose not to set an alarm, as I was pretty tired after all the driving the day before. I was awake at 8 am, so gave mum a knock and as we were both awake we decided to head down to breakfast. Breakfast was nice and chilled and it was good to see so many fellow GB athletes. Over breakfast I was able to plan out the day. It went something like this; chill out after breakfast until 12 pm (midday).
At 12 pm it was the Team GB organised bike recce. I arrived at the transition hall (meeting point for recce) and bumped straight into Matt Turnball (the guy who I met a few weeks before at the Durham duathlon) and starting chatting. We decided to ride out together, as there were so many athletes on the course the pace was pretty steady, but that didn't really bother me. As we pulled into Wunderland after the first lap we both decided that doing another lap with a few race pace efforts would be a wise move.
At 12 pm it was the Team GB organised bike recce. I arrived at the transition hall (meeting point for recce) and bumped straight into Matt Turnball (the guy who I met a few weeks before at the Durham duathlon) and starting chatting. We decided to ride out together, as there were so many athletes on the course the pace was pretty steady, but that didn't really bother me. As we pulled into Wunderland after the first lap we both decided that doing another lap with a few race pace efforts would be a wise move.
After the second lap it was time for me to grab a shower and meet mum for lunch. After lunch it was time for me to give my bike a clean, polish and final tweak before heading over to transition to register and rack my bike. After this there was a little a bit more down time, so we sat in the hotel bar enjoying a coffee, chatting and making most of the hotel WiFi (unfortunately there's wasn't any in our room) as I was beginning to get Twitter withdrawal symptoms! At about 4 pm the whole team began to assemble outside one of the conference rooms ahead of the pre-race brief. The briefing lasted close to an hour before and helped to clear up a few issues people had. We then all may our way out to the front of Wunderland for the scheduled team photos.
The GB standard distance team, can you find me? It's a bit like Where's Wally? 😜
After the team photos the whole team headed into the town of Kalkar for the parade of nations, which was held in the market square. This is where the town mayor along with the president of the ETU officially opened the European Duathlon Championships. We then headed back to the team hotel for the pasta party, time for us all to commit carbiside! This was a busy day, so no surprise I was pretty tired again so decided to get another reasonably early night before race day.
Saturday (race day) - The night before a race I find it hard to sleep as I keep thinking about the race and likewise I also wake up much earlier that my alarm and this was no exception. I woke at around 6:30 am and chilled in my room before heading over for breakfast at 7:30 am. I was in the the first wave of Age-Group athletes to go off, starting at 10:30 am, just after all the elite Para athletes. I always start my tried and trusted pre-race nutrition strategy 3-hrs prior to my start time. After breakfast I gave my mum a knock (as 7:30 am is a bit too early for her) and then joined her for her breakfast. I found it hard to concentrate on the conversation as I was now in race mode and kept thinking about the task at hand. The big issue was the weather forecast, as it was highly changeable, so i didn't know if I would go for a base layer or not and would I wear gloves. I then decided that it would be double yes; base layer and gloves. With about 45 minutes to go before the race start I put all my race kit on and headed over to transition and start my final preparations; check tire pressure, talc my shoes and run though transition before the all important caffeine gel before commencing the warm-up. There was a bit of a chill in the air so I was glad with my choice of gloves and base layer.
With about 5 minutes to go I said good bye to my mum (who wished me good luck) and headed to the start line, which was filling up with fellow athletes quickly. I was able to get a good spot quite close to the front. The MC then started the race build-up, my heart rate started to increase and it was time for me to get my game face on! The klaxon sounded and we were off! The 10 km run was 4 laps of a 2.5 km loop that weaved around the Wunderland grounds, with a stretch along the river before looping back and circling the conference centre (acting as the indoor transition area). We went off like a rocket, much quicker than I normally do for a race, but this is the Euro's so what do you expect! I was right in the mix after the first km and was buzzing, then all of a sudden my body was telling me that I'd gone out too fast! What didn't help, was that this coincided with the "out and back" section along the river, in to a tough headwind! This section started to string out the field with a front pack of 4 athletes pulling away from everyone else. I really had to dig in now and was certainly paying the price for the really fast start. The next two laps were a real battle for me, but I continued to hang in there and on the fourth and final lap, started to get back into my groove. I then entered T1, put my helmet on and and was out of transition, jumping on to my bike after the mount line. This went super slick and was on to the bike where I hoped to move up the placings.
The bike course was also 4 laps but this time of a 10 km loop. The bike course was pure flat with a few 180 degree turns. Just like the run there was a tough section into a headwind, but aside from that the wind was kind with either a side or tail wind. The wind on the bike wasn't really an issue for me as I had been training a lot on my TT bike back home in Hull and it's always windy so I'm now used to it. I kept pushing as hard as I could keeping aero to minimize the drag effect from the wind and was slowly beginning to claw back some places. There were three different age-groups in my wave, so this made it hard to work out if I was moving up in my age-group or not. All the supporters from all countries (mainly GB) were positioned along the approach to transition before commencing the remaining laps, this just gave you an extra little boost hearing all the support. I kept on pushing as hard as I could for the remaining laps and stuck to my nutrition plan, to ensure i was fueled for the latter stages of the race. As the laps went by I gained an extra few places and could work out that if there were more laps I would gain a few more, but we were all pretty spread out now. I turned into Wunderland for the final time and started the approach to T2. I lent down un-Velcro'd my tri-shoes, slipped my feet out and rested them on the top of my shoes ready for the dismount line. I jumped off my bike just before the line and raced into transition for T2 before starting the final 5 km run.
The final run was just two laps of the same 2.5 km loop. I exited transition and was quickly into my side, running well considering the earlier run and bike. I was feeling really good and was pushing hard to try and move up the field and/or hold off athletes behind me. The best part about the out and back section (although it was windy) was that it gave you a good chance to work out where you where, who was in front of you and who was chasing you. I kept on pushing and quickly ticked off lap one and now I only has 2.5 km left to race. As I reached the turn around I was confident that I wouldn't get caught and there was a slight chance I could gain another place, so this is where i kicked for the finish. I'm guessing the guy in front of me thought the same as I failed to catch him. I crossed the line and was over the moon as aside from going too deep into the red in the first part of the first run, everything else had gone according to plan and all my transitions were super slick!
Something slightly different than banana's for post race re-fueling
I finished 9th in my age-group and 3rd Brit, in a time of 2:05:35. I was over the moon with this performance especially as I over cooked it in the first part of the run and had to really dig in for the middle half of the first 10 km run. I have a feeling that this performance is good enough for me to gain automatic qualification for next years ETU duathlon championships.
With about 5 minutes to go I said good bye to my mum (who wished me good luck) and headed to the start line, which was filling up with fellow athletes quickly. I was able to get a good spot quite close to the front. The MC then started the race build-up, my heart rate started to increase and it was time for me to get my game face on! The klaxon sounded and we were off! The 10 km run was 4 laps of a 2.5 km loop that weaved around the Wunderland grounds, with a stretch along the river before looping back and circling the conference centre (acting as the indoor transition area). We went off like a rocket, much quicker than I normally do for a race, but this is the Euro's so what do you expect! I was right in the mix after the first km and was buzzing, then all of a sudden my body was telling me that I'd gone out too fast! What didn't help, was that this coincided with the "out and back" section along the river, in to a tough headwind! This section started to string out the field with a front pack of 4 athletes pulling away from everyone else. I really had to dig in now and was certainly paying the price for the really fast start. The next two laps were a real battle for me, but I continued to hang in there and on the fourth and final lap, started to get back into my groove. I then entered T1, put my helmet on and and was out of transition, jumping on to my bike after the mount line. This went super slick and was on to the bike where I hoped to move up the placings.
The bike course was also 4 laps but this time of a 10 km loop. The bike course was pure flat with a few 180 degree turns. Just like the run there was a tough section into a headwind, but aside from that the wind was kind with either a side or tail wind. The wind on the bike wasn't really an issue for me as I had been training a lot on my TT bike back home in Hull and it's always windy so I'm now used to it. I kept pushing as hard as I could keeping aero to minimize the drag effect from the wind and was slowly beginning to claw back some places. There were three different age-groups in my wave, so this made it hard to work out if I was moving up in my age-group or not. All the supporters from all countries (mainly GB) were positioned along the approach to transition before commencing the remaining laps, this just gave you an extra little boost hearing all the support. I kept on pushing as hard as I could for the remaining laps and stuck to my nutrition plan, to ensure i was fueled for the latter stages of the race. As the laps went by I gained an extra few places and could work out that if there were more laps I would gain a few more, but we were all pretty spread out now. I turned into Wunderland for the final time and started the approach to T2. I lent down un-Velcro'd my tri-shoes, slipped my feet out and rested them on the top of my shoes ready for the dismount line. I jumped off my bike just before the line and raced into transition for T2 before starting the final 5 km run.
The final run was just two laps of the same 2.5 km loop. I exited transition and was quickly into my side, running well considering the earlier run and bike. I was feeling really good and was pushing hard to try and move up the field and/or hold off athletes behind me. The best part about the out and back section (although it was windy) was that it gave you a good chance to work out where you where, who was in front of you and who was chasing you. I kept on pushing and quickly ticked off lap one and now I only has 2.5 km left to race. As I reached the turn around I was confident that I wouldn't get caught and there was a slight chance I could gain another place, so this is where i kicked for the finish. I'm guessing the guy in front of me thought the same as I failed to catch him. I crossed the line and was over the moon as aside from going too deep into the red in the first part of the first run, everything else had gone according to plan and all my transitions were super slick!
Something slightly different than banana's for post race re-fueling
I finished 9th in my age-group and 3rd Brit, in a time of 2:05:35. I was over the moon with this performance especially as I over cooked it in the first part of the run and had to really dig in for the middle half of the first 10 km run. I have a feeling that this performance is good enough for me to gain automatic qualification for next years ETU duathlon championships.
Over the moon with the race and I couldn't have given any more.
Sunday - This was my epic travel day. I got up around 9 am gave my mum a knock before we headed down for breakfast. Fortunately I felt rather fresh as the post race celebrations weren't anywhere as big as I was expecting. This was certainly a blessing in disguise as driving 550 miles from Germany through Holland, Belgium and France before taking the Channel Tunnel back to Folkestone and then driving back up north to Hull was brutal! Mum and I had arranged that she would do the first stretch of the journey until we caught the train back to Blighty, this was a massive help as it was another four hours drive back home to Hull.
As always a massive thanks to my sponsors Meridian Foods and Coconoil, as well as my coach Ian Mayhew (Gears & Tears). Also thanks to all of my fellow GB athletes who helped cheer me on and make this an unforgettable experience. Lastly thanks has to go to my Mum, who was my number one fan in light of Sally not being able to make this race (first one she's ever missed!).
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