Trail Running

Me out on the trails

For a while now an old friend and former triathlon rival (whilst I was growing up) has been encouraging me to go for a long steady trail run with him, as he was keen to show me his neck of the woods down the Ribble valley in Lancashire, where he carries out some of his sessions with his business, Racepace Triathlon coaching. So this week we finally got round to it! Having not seen Rodger for quite a while it was a nice catch up as we drove less than 20minutes from Blackburn to the small village of Sabden, before heading out on the trails and fells for a 90minute steady run. Rodge has built up a great local knowledge of the paths and trails, and lead me through some pretty remote areas including a loop round Pendle Hill with some excellent views, before dropping back down to Sabden to finish the 10mile loop. It was great to run in a new environment, and as Rodge stressed, it is an area so many runners live close to but are unaware of, where the variety and amount of trails on offer is great! After the run we went for a quick lunch at a local bakery/café to top off a good afternoon’s work!

My trusty trail shoes

For me, trail running usually includes a bit of multi terrain stuff, so a little bit of road/tarmac to get out to some woods or trials, and maybe some loops rounds fields or pitches, but if it’s off road it should be less impact for those knees which people tell me might stop working properly one day! Trail running probably comprises at least 50% of the steady run miles I do whilst training in Leeds, but this wasn’t always the case. At home, before moving to Leeds for University, I would rarely venture away from roads and lanes, partly because during the winter months it would be dark when I arrived home from school, and I didn’t fancy head-torch running, and partly because I always seemed to turn my ankle whenever I went off road. I would decide to hit the trails on a weekend every few months, and would usually seem to go over on my ankle on a rock, tree root or other small obstacle. This would lead to a few days or a week resting it while it was swollen up like a tennis ball, and put me off trail running for another few months. I also seemed to use the excuse that there were no good trails for running nearby… 

Views of the Lancashire countryside

Having run on trails much more I think I have been converted! One of the benefits has become clear as I believe trail running develops ankle strength and stability, as I no longer seem to roll my ankle, and even when you have that brief moment when you start to go over on it and are thinking “oh f**k”, I somehow seem to bring it back at the last instant and avoid a proper stumble, most likely through improved proprioception. Another bonus is the ups and downs and the interesting scenery compared to pounding the pavements all the time, as you get a chance to see a variety of wildlife and some pretty incredible views in certain locations.

Since deciding I actually quite enjoyed getting out on the trails or in the woods, I’ve found a remarkable number of trails near my house which I never knew were there, until I went looking for them, and now each time I’m back home from Uni, I try to find a new trail or loop to mix into my running. So if you’ve never ventured off the roads, I recommend trying a few off road runs through some woods and trails. If you feel you’re susceptible to twisting ankles, go for smoother, less rocky trails in the first instance, but you’ll soon be able to progress to the rougher paths, and the feeling of discovery gives you another reason to head out running in the cold winter months!

Early Winter Training

So, I've not blogged since May... In the early part of the 2013 season I was enjoying blogging and sharing my experiences of training and racing, but when performances slipped, I was less to keen to share my results and simply stopped blogging. Since then I have completed a season with both of ups and downs, and am into winter training to prepare for the 2014 season.

Heading out on fourth leg at Leeds Uni Relays

Whilst training steadily away, and trying a few different things, I haven't been quite as consistent with training as I would have hoped. The difficulty of this is that I often find myself comparing my training to that of the same time last year, and as I've had a few bouts of illness, and missed training through an inconvenient uni timetable, and essays and deadlines, end up thinking I'll be making less progress than I should. Interestingly, when checking my Garmin training files and comparing total training hours, my October and November were both within two hours of the same two months in 2012. Recently I have done a few "training races", with varying degrees of success; I raced 3 times last weekend the first of which was at the BUCS short course swimming champs in Sheffield, where I used the 1500m as a practise for the 1500m swim I regularly race in Olympic distance triathlons. The race went well and I swam 16.55, a PB by over a minute, and a pleasing result showing my swimming is still gradually progressing in the right direction. The second race was a 2mile leg at the Leeds University Relays with two of my house mates and training partners. Unfortunately I ran the fourth leg, after a great start by Gordon, Liam and Gordon again, put me into first place with a decent lead, I wasn't able to hold onto the lead, struggling on the tough course, blowing dramatically two thirds of the way round, and being chased down by two strong runners; I brought home the team in third position. The third race of the weekend was my debut cyclocross race in York, which was a fun but tough experience, where I enjoyed the different style of racing and finished a distinctly average 38th position! It was also nice to catch up with my old coach Mark who was doing the timing for the race, who I've not seen in a long while.

The other race I have done recently was in November at the BUCS duathlon champs, where I finished a solid 9th position, first home for Uni of Leeds, helping the team to Bronze. I was happy with my splits which showed an improvement from the previous year, despite probably not being as fit as the same time last year, and I rode a strong 22.30 for the 10mile bike leg. Full results can be seen here: BUCS Duathlon 2013

Now in my final week of University before finishing for Christmas I'm looking forward to getting in a couple of weeks of proper consistent training, like I feel I was doing most weeks this time last year, then a nice Christmas at home with the family before heading away to Spain with some of the Leeds Tri Centre group for my first training camp abroad through new year into early January.

BUCS Sprint Distance Triathlon Championships

The team from Leeds Triathlon Centre

Where to start!?
Last weekend was the BUCS Sprint Triathlon Championships held in Calne, Wiltshire, and I travelled down on Saturday with a team from the Leeds Triathlon Centre (including both University of Leeds and Leeds Met athletes). After a nice evening meal with the team I got a fairly early night at the Swindon Campanile, while room mate Jago (Leckie) sent endless snapchats to Gordon, among others, providing valuable entertainment as we couldn't get the TV working! We rose relatively early and Jago and I went for an easy 10 minute jog to loosen off the legs as we weren't racing until mid afternoon. Last weekend I raced at a similar time in the afternoon and did a ten minute jog first thing in the morning which seemed to work well for me, so I tried to replicate the run, again including a couple of pick ups to move the legs up towards race pace.

We arrived at the event HQ and registered with plenty of time to spare, and I met my Mum who'd driven down that morning to support me. She'd kindly brought my race wheels which I lent to Jago, as well as some food for me and an all important piece of equipment: a small brass adapter used to pump up a disc wheel as a regular pump won't fit onto the valve. As the 750m swim leg of the race was held in a pool at St Mary's School Sports Centre, the race had to be started in waves with your estimated swim time used to seed the quicker swimmers into the final waves. My wave was the final one, so I started at four o'clock, and shared a lane with one other athlete who set off one minute behind me; these intervals aimed to ease congestion on the bike course which has previously had drafting problems. I went off at a good pace on the swim and was feeling strong, whilst keeping an eye on the other lanes I spotted a pink-hatted athlete who'd gone off slightly quicker than me so I tried to stick somewhere level with him. After a couple of hundred metres, on checking again, I had left the other swimmer behind and soon the swim was over, and I emerged from the pool into the transition area in 8.47, 13 seconds quicker than my predicted time**, whipping my hat and goggles off as I ran! I  was leading my wave comfortably, and later found out this was the second fastest swim split of the day. I quickly stepped through my race belt and put on my helmet and  sunnies before making the lengthy run out to the road where the mount line was. I quickly got into riding hard; knowing that drafting had been a problem in previous years I wanted to put as much distance between myself and any potential chase group. I rode hard and for the first ten km of the 25km ride I didn't feel great; my hamstrings seemed a bit sore, in hindsight that might be due to the slightly different position on the tt bike, but I just focused on pushing harder with my calves and quads to maintain the gap I had. The second half of the bike was into a headwind as we looped back towards the transition, and I began to feel stronger despite the wind, and soon was running back into T2. I have to make thanks at this point to my childhood sporting hero Kieran (green shoes) Rowlands! He lent me his time trial bike for the event, including a disc wheel, which should be faster than my regular road frame. Aside from the more aerodynamic frame and wheels, the bike has bar end shifters, which means I can remain in a comfortable aero position whilst changing gear, rather than having to switch back to the drop handlebars if I'd used my road bike with clip on tri bars. So thanks Kieran, you're still a hero!

Quickly into my running out of T2.

I had a solid T2 and was soon out onto the run, feeling that regular jelly legs feeling! I ran past my mum who indicated that my team mate Liam, who I considered one of the biggest threats in the previous wave, was 90 seconds slower than me to that point in the race. This was good news as I knew he was running really well and may take quite a bit of time out of me. I pushed on and focused on the strong relaxed posture I've been working on in training, and was making good progress. The route was an out and back course with a twisty section near transition/finish area, before coming onto a long straight-ish section to the turn around point.
I began to tire a little before the turn point, and was glad to loop around the cone signalling half way, grabbing a cup of water from the marshals as I went. I had resisted the temptation to look behind, but could now see the runners coming the opposite way along the path, but it was difficult to guess how far behind they were in time, and I didn't actually know who'd set off when I did, and who was a minute behind! My legs really started to hurt on the way back, and I was glad of a slight downhill section as the route wound its way through a housing estate. As I approached the school again, Mum gave me another time check, I was now only 30 seconds ahead of Liam, who went on to get the quickest run split of the day by some 36 seconds! I just gave it my all to the line, my legs screaming at me, and hadn't long crossed the line and removed my timing chip when my teammates looked on the live results screen and informed me that I'd won! I was quick to point out that I was only leading, and some athletes set off a minute behind me. What felt like just over a minute after I finished, Cameron Milne finished who had started a minute behind me; in fact he'd finished 1:09 behind me, meaning I'd beaten him and won the event! After many congratulations from friends, teammates and various other people, we looked more closely at the results to see I'd won by a mere 8 seconds from Sam Wade, a Cardiff Met Uni athlete, with Cameron a further one second behind! It turned out that on swim, bike and run alone, my times would only have positioned me third, which once again showed the importance of transitions! All those random "tranny training" sessions in car parks with Uncle Matt seem to have paid off (not my real uncle, Matt Backhouse who helped me progress in triathlon). Unfortunately, teammate and housemate Liam had been pushed down into 4th position only 15 seconds away from a medal! But with the help of another strong performance from Richard Anderson in 7th, we had sealed the Team Gold medal for University of Leeds, beating the previously dominant Loughborough team! Our squad had some other strong performances, and I was particularly impressed by Phil Sesemann, who finished 15th in a tough field for his first triathlon, complete with a quick run split, even after a hard bike.

Team Gold for University of Leeds. Liam Lloyd and myself collecting the medals, unfortunately Rich Anderson had to rush off to a wedding, so missed the presentation! 

I'd just like to finish with a few "thank yous": to the event organisers for putting on a great event (complete with weather), my coach Rob Harvey who prepared me for the event and came down with the team for the weekend, to everyone who supported me along the route and afterwards, and finally, to my Mum who drove all the way down to support me, and then drove me home again! Cheers Mum! (My former coach Mark Walsh will be proud of me for this acknowledgement). I'm now having a couple of days off to recover from a very pleasing two races in two weekends, and then will begin to build again towards the next race!

** I have a (minor) complaint on this topic! My estimated swim time of 9:00 was the slowest in the final wave, and as several athletes in the wave before had the same estimate I counted myself lucky to be in the final wave, which should contain most of the race contenders. However, other Universities/athletes don't seem to understand the point of swim estimates for seeding, and just enter stupidly fast swim times in order to be in the final (and theoretically most competitive) wave. At least two athletes in my wave were more than a minute off their entry time and at least five others that I spotted swam at least 30 seconds slower. It is annoying that I nearly missed out on the last wave and in the end, 6 of the quickest 12 swimmers were in slower waves, simply because people lied about their swim ability! Surely a suitable penalty could/should be imposed here in order to deter people from ridiculous over-estimation, maybe adding the difference from previous years onto people's estimated swim times, so that they end up in slower waves. For example, if a swimmer estimated 8:30 and swims 9:15, if the next year they "estimate" a time of 8:30 they should have the 45 seconds added on and be seeded with 9:15? Rant over!

All photos courtesy of Rob Harvey

2013 Antalya ITU Triathlon European Cup, Turkey

This was my first experience of a Senior Level European Cup, having previously competed in one Junior European Cup in Quarteira, Portugal, in 2012. Another side of this was for the first time completely organising my own trip; being away from home has forced independence out of me, and for the first time I booked flights, transfers, accommodation and race entry on my own, with minimal help from my secretary/agent/chauffeur/mum (thanks Mum!)

My trip started on Wednesday afternoon after my last hard training session, as I travelled home and packed my new Evoc Bike Bag, which Mum had collected from Leisure Lakes Bikes, with all my race kit for the weekend away. It was then time to get my head down for a few hours before a 4am start in order to make the hour (ish) drive to Manchester Airport to check in for my 7.30am flight. The check-in and four-hour flight all went smoothly and I arrived at my Hotel mid-afternoon on Thursday. I had a wander round, got some cash from an ATM, found the local shops and had a look on the beach, and an easy 15 minute swim in the sea which was cool but not cold. The next two days were both easy as my taper meant I was resting up for the race, so I focused on hydration and getting plenty of sleep! I planned to get my runs in first thing in the morning before the heat of the day, but it was 25/26°C by 8am, so I was a bit worried as to how my race would be at 3pm in the afternoon!

Time for a bit of sunbathing, too!

On race morning I had a bit of a lie in, and after breakfast chilled out in my room, reading Can't Sleep, Can't Train, Can't Stop, fellow COLT Andy Holgate's entertaining second  book about his misadventures in Ironman. Just before lunchtime I went for a 10 minute jog and felt fairly loose, and relaxed enough on a couple of 50m bursts I put in. I collected my race kit together, and headed down to the race venue, around 1-1.5km down the beach, and stopped at a cafe on the way for some pasta for lunch. 

Eventually we assembled on the burning hot shingle beach, thankful for the non-wetsuit decision, as despite the 31°C air temperature, the water temperature was borderline for wetsuit. The race started and 70 pumped up guys surged forward into a mass of white water and flailing arms and legs, and made for the first turn buoy about 300m out from shore. I got out fairly well and was slightly ahead of the few people either side, but as the buoy approached everything squeezed in from both sides and I encountered many arms, hands, legs and bodies swimming over me, and was no longer sure where I was in the group! It took me around 700m of being battered from all sides to get any space to swim as we started the second 750m lap. I moved through a few people on the second lap, feeling relatively strong, but looking up round the last buoy I could see past the few swimmers directly ahead of me and a decent gap to the front group of swimmers. I moved through in the last part to emerge from the water 21st, and right at the front of the second pack. I had a clear run through transition and got out onto the bike course and quickly slipped my feet into my new Specialized Trivent shoes, before starting to work with a few of the athletes around me on chasing the lead pack. A few guys contributed to the work on the front of the group during the first of eight 5km laps, before realising there was around 30 other guys sat on the back having an easy ride. After quite a bit of shouting at people, almost everybody stopped working, myself included, not wanting to tire my own legs out while others sat in the group resting up for the run! A very easy 40km passed without incident, and we saw the gap grow from around 30/40 seconds to almost 5 minutes by the end of the 40km! I focused on positioning myself sensibly in the group, and taking my two energy gels and plenty of water and carbohydrate/electrolyte drink in order to hit T2 in the best possible shape.

I managed to hold a position fairly close to the front of the group for the dismount and run into T2, and quickly racked my bike and got my trainers on, before whipping my helmet off and mindlessly putting it on the floor next to my bike. I then headed out onto the run in the first 5 or 6 from the group, the legs not feeling too bad and getting going almost straight away. I ran a decent 10km, in 34.09 to finish a very pleasing 31st position, with a strong finish to pull back a place in the last couple of hundred metres - full results here. I also had to stop for 15 seconds on my third lap (of four) in order to serve a penalty for not putting my helmet in my transition box; hopefully I'll learn from that one! As a debut at a Senior European Cup I was very happy with how the race went, and while I would've hoped to swim a bit faster and make the front pack, it gives me a good platform to build from throughout the season. Now I'm already looking forward to next weekend where I'll race in the BUCS Sprint Distance Triathlon Champs, hoping for a podium position! 

Crossing the finish line; photo c/o Chris Carter.

Support Update

Since moving to Leeds I have been supported by Rob Harvey who has taken the role as my coach, and his vast knowledge of the sport is helping me each week, particularly leading into the race season. Along with Rob's coaching I receive help from other coaches such as Jack Maitland. Leisure Lakes Bikes have also continued their support, which I have benefited from for the past couple of seasons, and this year have provided me with a Specialized Venge to race on for the summer. They have also provided me with a pair of Specialized S-Works Trivent shoes for racing in, which have a drawbridge open heel system and BOA fastening to make for lightening quick transitions! The staff in the Lancaster store are also a great help, offering advice, products and mechanical help! I would like to say a big "thanks!" for their support, and hope I can do the bike justice in the coming season! I'm looking forward to racing my first senior international level race in Turkey, in a European Cup event at the end of April.

Receiving the Specialized Venge from Pete at Leisure Lakes Bikes in Lancaster.

Warming down at the British Duathlon Champs on my new bike (also see - new shoes!)

Racing Update

Throughout the winter I did a few races, nothing super important, but just to keep sharp and keep myself motivated. Firstly was the BUCS Duathlon champs last November. Having only got back into run training mid to late September, I wasn't entirely sure where my run fitness would be, but raced a solid race. The first run was steady away for me with quite a few guys flying off up the road on the 2 mile dash! I moved through quite well on the bike, and the second run was ok, I lost one place I think. The only blip was in T1, my helmet hadn't clicked together properly, so came undone as i ran out towards the bike mount line. I stopped and fastened it straight away, losing a few seconds, but the referees rather harshly slapped a 2 minute penalty on my time, moving me from 16th down to 48th! My Leeds Uni teammates raced well, with Rich, Liam (one of my housemates) and Gordon all coming in the top 11, earning them second team overall. I did a few XC races to mix up my Saturday morning hard run sessions, and after January saw steady improvements compared to the same runners around me, moving up the field from Northern XC champs, to BUCS XC champs to English National XC champs, where I was pleased to finish 58th, narrowly beating one of my Leeds training partners Phil Sesemann.

Enjoying the mud at the Northern XC Champs!

Next up was BUCS Biathlon champs; Biathlon involves a swim and a run, but timed separately with a rest in between, and times equate to a certain number of points. I was happy enough to get second with a good run of 4.09 for the 1500m on the famous Iffley Road Sir Roger Bannister running track. I lost out to Phil who ran an awesome 3.59 on a cold day in March. The swim was a couple of hours later, and both Phil and I were in the fastest heat; I knew it would be asking a lot to pull out enough of a lead over my teammate to take the overall win, as I would have to beat him by around 5 seconds to get enough points! I felt like I'd gone off slow as the two guys in the middle lanes flew away from me (my first 50m was 27 seconds) but kept cool and at halfway could see over and Phil was starting to fall back, evidently going off too fast! I came back strongly to get a pb 2.04.09, with the third fastest swim, but Phil also swam well to get a high 2.06. Overall Phil's score of 2643 beat me by only 25 points, but I still got a satisfying silver medal, and with Jago Leckie 13th we wrapped up the team competition too! The Leeds Uni girls team were also strong with 2nd, 3rd and 4th giving them first female team. The next morning, on arriving home from my 90 minute steady run, I really didn't feel good, and decided to give riding a miss, and went to bed, thinking maybe I was just a bit tired. I didn't leave the house again until the following Thursday, and didn't train all week. I only really started training properly again two weeks later, having suffered from a horrible flu type illness/virus which left me with headaches, sweating, hot and cold flushes, achy muscles and a loss of appetite(!). My most recent race was the British Elite Duathlon Champs, held on an car racing circuit, on an old airfield near Loughborough. In the past few years this has been part of the national junior super series, but as a first year senior I didn't need to do it for the series, but decided it'd be a good warm up race ahead of my first Triathlon of 2013. It was important I viewed it as a good training session as much as a race, as I didn't vastly alter my training for the race, so knew my legs might not be quite as fresh as some of the guys out there. My first 5km run was a very average 16:30, which put me in a small group of 5 or 6 who all worked well together. We rode through quite well, catching 2s and 3s who'd missed the other groups, and ended up as the 3rd group on the road, with 12 guys ahead as we started the second run. My transitions were both slick, and I got used to my new bike and tri shoes, which was one of the objectives. I felt strong on the second run, although a few of the quicker guys from our bike group got away from me on the 2.5km run. I finished in 21st place, which was OK really, although I found it hard not to be disappointed with my first run which was around 20 seconds slower than the previous year.

On my new bike at the British Elite Duathlon Championships.

Winter Training Update

I am making a new effort to start to make some regular updates to my blog which was set up last year, and have so far completely neglected! Maybe it's slightly late to talk about winter training, with the first signs of some sun and warmth already showing here in Leeds, but here goes. Since moving to Leeds late last September to study Sport and Exercise Science, I have done some studying, plenty of training, explored new areas, and made a bunch of new friends and acquaintances! The winter months have been about steadily trying to build volume, particularly on the run side of things (which was probably my weakest area last season) and maintaining consistency. The swim training I am now doing is somewhat different to back home where the sessions were geared towards club swimming and shorter 50m - 200m racing. We have five squad swims each week, and the sets we do aim more specifically at racing 750m/1500m triathlon swims; it has also been an inspiring and humbling experience swimming alongside (sometimes) or behind two Olympic medallists, as well as a host of other top GB athletes.

Out on my bike with training partner Gordon, photo c/o Liam!

As mentioned earlier the bike training has been about consistency and exploring new areas, with some lovely rides out towards the Yorkshire Dales, and some good company and strong training partners. Throughout the winter we did a weekly turbo session as a group in the Leeds Met Sports Hall, to keep some speed in the legs, while most of the rest of the riding was steady miles building the aerobic base. Now its coming to Spring the infamous (among West Yorkshire based cyclists) Leeds Chaingang has started up and this replaces the turbo session. Done as a 25 mile hard ride whilst trying to pull some turns at the front, or else cling onto the wheels nearer the back, this serves as great a great race simulation session, and the presence of pure cyclists (as opposed to triathletes) makes it a tough enough ride for the Brownlee brothers! My main focus for the winter was to improve my running, and try to bring down my 5/10km times. Early in the winter, November 2012, I raced in the Leeds Abbey Dash 10km, and was rewarded with a PB of 33.37. Having gone off slightly fast in the high quality field and suffered towards the end I was optimistic that there was room for further improvement in the short-term future. The general plan for training over the winter involved steady mileage with key harder session on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Tuesday nights are track sessions, so hard reps working from 10km pace to down to 1500m pace on some sessions, as it's important to keep the leg speed even though it can be a few months until race season. Saturday mornings were tough grass reps sessions with slightly longer reps, and this was either with the Leeds Met Cross Country Club, or a small group of triathletes on our own, or on some occasions I raced XC instead. These sessions were about building leg strength, running hard and learning to hurt!
Thanks for reading, and I'll try and update soon!