First of all there was a bit of training that has really caught me by surprise as to how much I enjoy it and how much of a buzz and increase in fitness I have gained from it. I am talking about teaching the Les Mills GRIT series. A mixture of Strength, Plyo and Cardio training sessions all squeezed into half hour HIIT blocks with very minimal rest. If you've never tried GRIT I urge you to go and give it a go, yes it hurts, yes it's only half hour and yes you will have to do it in the gym. But wow does it give your fitness a tune up! It took me about a week to be able to walk properly again after my training days :) Unfortunately I had to miss the 2nd round of the Brass Monkeys due to this, but you've got to pick what works best for the long run (and your career). I became good friends with my foam roller that week!
Brass Monkey number 3 was next on the hit list of races. I really enjoyed this series and can feel a huge gain in fitness due to these training races. Although everyone calls them training, you never can turn off the inner chimp that makes you want to push harder and catch the bloke in front, especially when its as cold as that day was. 2 and a bit hours fun later and its all over and training in the books, it took a while for the fingers and toes to return but can't remember that now sitting in nice warm living room in June. As usual it was a great course set by the Gorrick crew and happy to come away with 22nd in the final round and managed to grab some series points, now to just score at every race :)
Onto another very cold day but at a new Gorrick venue for the 1st in the Spring Series at Saddleback hill just outside Camberley. It was a great track and will be even better once the trails have settled down a bit but its always good fun smashing through the fresh loam. I had a good race overall, few little mistakes here and there but it felt great to put some intensity back into the legs again and bring it home in 14th- Another best :) Looking forward to more races at the saddleback and the stinger of a hill.
Spring Series 2 at the old favourite Crowthorne hill is always a popular race but for some reason I really struggled to get going and didn't feel on form and my placing of 21st mirrored this. The single track and technical sections felt great, but the kick on for the wider fire roads was next to none. By all means not my worst race ever and there were plenty of good bits, but something just felt a bit lacking.
After a challenge by one of the members of my gym the next race was the Brutal 10k in Bagshot, but he didn't even show up! Next time mate. Brutal definitely lived up to its name. A 10k cross country run over 2 laps, where the first half of the lap took you up and down as many of the very steep tank testing hills as possible and then the second half took all the energy out of your legs by putting you though trench after trench of freezing water. I always forget that feeling of ice-blocked toes when signing up for these events, but it soon comes rushing back. I finish 56th out of 530 odd people so really happy with that considering the lack of running at the time (cycling's just more fun!) with a time of 1 hour 5 mins, that might sound slow but to only be 12 mins back from the whippet like winner, I was really pleased.
Having been going well in the Spring Series events I decided I was going to travel that little bit further to the first round of the Southern XC at Black Park just outside Slough to see how I'd go. I have to say I was really pleased I did. The course was really different from what I was used to, just a total 50m of climbing over the whole 4 laps! I had a fairly poor start as I set myself up quite near the back but once the crowds thinned out and I was able to get passed on the wider sections I settled into a really nice rhythm and just sat on a really nice gear picking up some nice speed and consistent lap times. I finished in 20th with really consistent 21 minute laps and a great feeling. The course may have been flat but they crammed in some nice technical riding sections and bomb holes and drops that I've never really ridden over in a race before, some people really do need to work on their skills :D
Spring Series round 3 at Porridge pot was a day to forget. Nothing major wrong but just one of those races where you feel rubbish and never in contention - a bad day to just leave it at that
Spring series 4 next at Frith hill and finally spring seemed to be on its way. A slight delay on the start line due to timing system issues, but a few laps of the car park to keep warm and we were off. Another course I've not ridden for a while was a nice change and the new tracks were bedding in nicely, lots more loam to spread. Another 14th and more good fun, Gorricks are fairly hard to score points in as only the top 15 score so 4 points total meant 30th overall and a good first series in the sport.
Southern XC 2 and a trip down to the New forest and a lovely post race dinner with Hannah and Harv in a great pub. But anyway race time first, and another first of being gridded on the start #BIGtime #notreally20th ;-D. Another great course set out by the SXC crew with plenty of roots, techy bits and one long fire road. 21st overall so lost a place but a larger field and some good battles. Oh and the gammon, eggs and chips went down a treat.
Gorrick 100 enduro at Porridge pot a week later was a longer hit out over 3 laps of 10 miles. The aim of the game was to hit a decent pace and hold it for as long as possible, finishing 2 and a half hours later feeling great and very happy to take 10th place.
Down to another new track for Southern XC4 in Bordon on what was a miserable wet morning and I really felt for the riders who were out early as it was chucking it down. Fortunately it cleared for my start but the track was fairly greasy to start with. I struggled to get up to speed to start with but began to get into it after lap 1. Some fun jumps and drops to keep you on your toes amidst the flowing singletrack and after the bad start I worked my way back up to 27th, not very happy but had some fun in the end.
Onto my first Tri of the year and trying Windsor for the first time on their 25th anniversary. Racking on Saturday was a good chance to check out the walk to swim (about 10 mins) and the very long transitions. Much of the conversation around the event village was about how long they were and why. Turns out due to the running of the Magna Carta celebrations on the same day meant that some road closures weren't possible so they just had to make the best of the situation. Race day dawned very early (4.30am) so I tried a new race day technique of a couple of Imodium tabs and hour before the start to try and combat any mishaps and it worked! Stable stomach the whole way round and very please with that result. Anyhoo onto the race which started with a great swim for me and a lot of thanks to Zone3 for a great suit and PB swim time. A long run to T1 and picking up a few more places it was out onto the bike and looking forward to seeing what I could do in my favourite discipline. Right from the start I was feeling off and as if I was going backwards with guys passing me who I felt really shouldn't. 40km of self doubt passed and off the bike into T2 I noticed my rear wheel wasn't spinning as it should, arse the rear brake had been running the whole way! A stupid mistake and something I should've thought of earlier but time to run. And boy did that run feel good. A seminar few weeks earlier about running technique and tempo has really helped my running and if really recommend getting your running looked at by a pro, they tend to know what they are talking about :-P. 46 minutes and a fair few places gained later running through the crowds on the 3 lap course it was done and I had a huge smile on my face, I have sorely missed triathlons. 2hours 44mins total with probably 10 mins lost on the bike and lessons learnt (double/triple check your bike!!)
Finally for this post it's onto today and Southern XC round 5 and back to Porridge pot. A crash right in front of me at start left me jumping over the handlebars and the rider who'd managed to hit the deck on the flat...hmmm. Dead last and a little bemused it was time to drag some places back on the most fun course to date. Dry swoopy singletrack followed by some short sharp and some longer hills made for a great mix and made sure I was battling with the same old riders as we passed and re-passed each other as we hit our favourite bits. Unfortunately someone had a bad crash breaking a leg on one of the steep downhill sections. Because of his position on the track the race had to be paused until the ambulance crew were able to move him and take him off to hospital. Heal well bud and hope you are back racing ASAP. The race was resumed 34 minutes later in groups of 5 in the places that you crossed the line preceding the stoppage, this made sure there wasn't a huge jam in the first hairpin. 2 more laps of sprinting and smiles followed and I crossed the line in 20th, happy with how I'd gone especially in unusual circumstances.
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| I didn't knock him off.....honest! |
So we're all up to date and I promise not to leave it that long again, that's too much writing for me to do in one go :-D
Thanks for reading and until next time
Take it easy
Tom
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