DGTri Athlete Report - Marica Micallef

Hell Fire Duathlon

Sunday, 15th May 2011 saw the happening of the second race of the Hellfire Series, all in aid of Inspire, an NGO that helps people with disability. It consisted of an off-road duathlon in Kunċizzjoni, limits of Rabat , a wonderful area in the countryside! The first run consisted of an uphill start followed by a steep downhill on dry clay and boulders leading us to Fomm ir-Riħ Bay . After continuing to a plateau overlooking Gnejna Bay , we retraced our steps back to transition. It was meant to be a 3km run but it turned up to be double that! I was very well prepared for this race, after 4 long weeks of hard training by my coach, Dermot Galea. Yet, I always say ‘It all depends on race day’, so I never take anything for granted! I always face a race with a positive mindset, blocking out all the negatives! I also enjoy each and every second of it because I believe that it is all in the mind! So, in the first run, I tried to omit the pain that the built up lactic acid was causing in my legs! My stomach was also aching…a very common factor in my races! But I just ignored it and focused. I started with the first men and was 7th athlete in!

I had a fast transition too and off I rode for the 20k bike leg! This was all off-road and some sections were so tough and dangerous that I had to get off the bike and walk (as did almost everybody else)! After negotiating a heavily vegetated single track at Chadwick Lakes , we climbed an increasingly steep and lung-busting hill leading us to the race’s highest point! But it was all worthed and I had not only a fast bike leg, but I did my utmost to enjoy it.

After T2, we were left with a fairly flat and fast 9km run! However, this had a sting in its tail because we had to negotiate once again a steep and rough single track back to the finish line! It was a hot day and so the heat was taking its toll on everyone! But I kept on running, increasing the pace with each km and making my stride longer. I also kept a steady heart rate, thanks to the recent training of my coach, where I had to run at different heart rate zones in each run. Hence, my body adapted quickly to this new situation.

I was first female in and placed 11th out of the 27 participants. Since this was a new scenario in my racing, I did not have any finishing time in mind. Though, when practising the route, I had clocked over 3 hours! So, finishing the race in an excellent time of 2hrs 29mins was a boost for me. Am looking forward for the next and for more! With one race left in the Hellfire series, I find myself leading the female category after having won the first race held in January!

Marica Micallef

DGTri Athlete Report - Joe Brooks

21st May 2011
Hayle Middle Distance Triathlon

So, for my first Triathlon of the season and I thought I would enter one in a beautiful area of the country. After a 300 mile perfect car journey we arrived at "The Field" in Marazion in plenty of time for the Friday night registration. Armed with Tee-shirt and all the ensemble of stickers and bands we set off to find the camp site, this it where things started to go wrong. My helper and newbie Triathlete Mark Jarvis (1st Triathlon was the Full Boar Novice a week ago), loves his cars. Whilst turning the BMW around in Marazion after taking a detour he curbed the front wheel (not a happy bunny).

Eventually finding the camp site we pitched the tent next to another Triathlete (eventual third place overall and 1st in 40-44 age group) with no dramas. It was still only 7:30pm so we set of back to Marazion for some well deserved dinner. Car incident number 2. On coming around a tight bend and would be Michael Schumacher in a pimped up Peugeot 106 came careering around in the opposite direction and scrapped down the side of the BWM (Mr Jarvis - Not Happy), after the initial verbal exchange, things calmed down and details were exchanged.

After a great meal at the Kings Arms in Marizion, the normal pre-race nerves set in, not helped by watching the 15-20MPH winds and choppy sea.
Back at the camp site I settled into my sleeping bag for hopefully a good nights sleep.

12:30am I awoke to some noise from the tent that had pitched next door while we were out for our meal (not the Triathletes in the other tent). I will not go into graphic details but they were either a newly weds, deaf couple or a couple who did not understand that tents are not sound proof. After 1 hour the show finished and a good nights sleep resumed.

A 5:30am alarm and it was race day. The tent next door was silent, surprise-surprise!!

We arrived at "the field" in good time for the race briefing and I got set in transition.

The event was being run with the Olympic and Middle distance starting at the same time with both distances doing the 1.9km swim before breaking off for the cycle and run.

With my new Xterra Vector Pro X3 wetsuit on I stood on the beach with the 150 other competitors looking at the sea swell and the wind thinking "what am I doing here". With my goggles on I could not even see the first buoy. The swim was set out as a 1 lap out across and back course. The hooter went off and everyone piled into the sea. I held back from the more enthusiastic starters looking to try and get some free space and get into my stroke. After about 200 meters I can honestly say that I was ready to roll onto my back put my hand up in the air and get collected by the recovery boat. A numb nauseous feeling came over me and all I wanted to do was stop. I thought to myself you cannot quit. Stroke-stroke-wave, stroke-wave-breath, wave-breath-salt water-stroke-wave,"I want to die", stroke on the top of a wave-slap splutter-breath-stroke. After what seemed and eternity I got to the first bouy, the field was strung out with people being collected by the recovery boat all over the place. The swim to the second bouy was a little better with at least a resemblance of rythm being restored to my stroke, the feeling of nausia had not gone though. I turned the second bouy in about a mid field position. I thought the swim in would be an easy surf home, Not!

I do not know wether the tide had turned or I was just so tired but on the final 800 meter swim to the beach from the last bouy I could see the bottom at times and as I stroked hard I was still not moving. At this point the fishes were treated some special "Fish Food" consisting of my Musilie breakfast, energy bar and my pre swim energy gel, Yummy!!.

Out of the water and onto the beach with around 50% of the field still in the sea I started the 200meter run back to transition encouraged along by the wind swept local crowd and my weekend helper Mr Jarvis. Into transition and off with the suit in good time. I had forgotten my elastic bands for transition on my cycle shoes so the first 100 meters I was wabbling around on the bike trying to get my feet into my shoes. The first mile is a slight up hill through Marazion and I passed a few competitors and was feeling good considering the nightmare swim. Out onto open roads and through the outskirts of Penzance I got into a reasonable rythm a felt comfortable with my pace, I had decided to race with no speedo or watch so I was just riding to a percieved effort. I got into a good tustle with number 156 and we passed and re-passed each other (whilst maintaining the drafting rules) on the undulating terrain all the way down to Lands End. A guick sight seeing tick in the box at the Lands End turn around and we headed up to the North Coast. The terrain started to get hilly with good climbs and fast technical down hills. It would have been good to have done the course before as on some of the decents I slowed where I could of continued "Full Boar". A steep climb into St Just then onto the coast road up to St Ives the wind was blowing and the terrain kept on a steady climb up to the highest poing at mile 35. A good descent into Hayle was a welcome break and then it was onto the final leg from Hayle back to Marazion, a 20km undulating ride dead into the 18MPH wind, time to nuckle down again an tick off the villages.My back started to ache a bit so I think I need to possible move my position around a bit for the future. Fraddam-tick, Rellubus-tick,St Hillary-tick. Back into transition with no Idea how long I'd been out on the bike, It felt like a long time.

Newtons on and a drink and gel downed I exited T2 in good time, there seemed to be alot of bikes back into transition before me though. Having been told that the run was flat I was supprised when I came to the first hill which climbed around the side of transition and up a narrow lane. Afer 2 miles we were out onto a 1.5 mile undulating stoney off road section through fir trees. Back onto the lanes and the return leg to complete the first lap and few of the leaders came past me on their second lap, with running on my own I had dropped my pace so with the leaders coming by I picked it up a bit. Passing the transition field down a steep hill I was onto the second lap. Another runner passed me and shared some fruit pastels with me (top man), he told me to keep going as we could still get under 6 hours. I thought that 6 hours was out ouf the question due to the hedious swim and tough bike. Spured on by the thought of getting under 6 I picked up the pace, at the final drink station I asked the marshall the time 12:30PM (30 minutes left to do 5km).My last 5km was my best and I finished the run in 1:57 and in 5:55 overall. A free Veggie Cornish Pastie and a medal were waiting for me. There were free enties for next year to the winners and age-group winners and very nice winners trophies. With pastie woofed down and medal and kit packed away it was back onto the motorway for another 300 miles to finish the weekend endurance mission, Job Done.

Lessons to be learnt from the weekend:-

1. Be prepared for feeling sick in sea swims, I'm not sure if sickness tablets can be taken before events? I'll ask the coach.
2. When it is going bad, keep going and set the goal as getting to the finish and getting the job done.
3. If the swim goes bad it does not mean the rest of the event will follow suit.
4. Take a stopwatch Doh!!! I'm sure that if I had known the bike had gone reasonably well I would have been a bit more focussed on the run.
5.When you ask the coach and Mr Livingstone about what the course is like read between the lines. Undulating obviously translates differently in Maltese and Southamese :)

A big thanks to Dermot for his continued support and expert advise with the training program, without the constant feedback and encouragement from him I'm I would not be in a position to be able to complete these silly events.
A very big thanks to Bill Livingstone for the loan wheels, Cosmic! as Rodney would say :)

A big thanks to Mark Jarvis for the transport, tent and support during the race. Mark is just starting his own Triathlon journey and will be competing next on June 5th in his second Tri.

A big thanks to Hayle Tri and Hayle Canoe club for staging a well organised, friendly and challenging event. www.hayletri.co.uk/

And last but not least thanks to the couple in the tent next door for allowing us to listen to their own little endurance event, I suppose you would class 1 hours as a sprint!. That leads me onto lesson number 6:- Take earplugs if camping.

You can find the whole bike route on:-http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/35026610
and the run route on:-http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4197614

The camp site we used was Wheal Rodney which is about 1.5 miles from the race start and is on the Run Route. www.whealrodney.co.uk/


Joe.B.

DGTri Athlete Report - Johanna Calleja

Full Boar Super Sprint Triathlon

Meeting friends I hadn’t seen for a while meant that the Full Boar Super Sprint Triathlon was great fun from the moment we were picked up to be taken to Market Bosworth! Although they all tried reassuring me that the lake swim would be ok, they started to look worried when I told them it would be my first open water swim outside the warm Mediterranean Sea!!

Dermot and I were first in the lake before the race, to try to get over the shock of the 12° water before setting off. Although I never really got used to the cold, my breathing was more controlled than I thought it would be and I got into a fairly decent rhythm. I was second female out of the water but a slow transition (caused due to feeling so cold, I like to think) meant that I was third out onto the bike course.

I didn’t really manage to get into a good pace on the bike and the gap between me and Sam (in first place) grew substantially. I entered transition in second place again and it was only when I took off my cycling shoes that I realised that my feet were so cold that I couldn’t even move them. Trying to put on my running shoes proved to be a very difficult feat, as my toes just wouldn’t bend! After seeing the girl who had finished the bike in third place leave transition to start her run, I decided I just couldn’t waste any more time in transition, so I just pulled my shoes on the best I could and started the run, just hoping for the best.

It was a very strange sensation running on frozen feet which weren’t even placed properly inside my shoes! But other than that, my legs responded well and I quickly caught the girl in front of me. I finished the race in second place and was very pleased with my race, although I know I still need to work hard, especially on my cycling.

Well done to the Full Boar Team for putting on a really great and enjoyable event!! And thanks to Bill, Pam and Joe for the lifts and to all our friends for their support during the race!!

Johanna

Full Boar Super Sprint Triathlon

1st Win of Season 2011

Another short distance triathlon in the bag this weekend to sharpen up before the big first target in June. Unfortuanately I have been sick since Friday so although I was really looking forward to this race I wasn't sure if it was still a good idea to do it. On Saturday I was quite in a mess and decided to spend the whole day in the room trying to recovery. Sunday morning came and I took the brave (probably stupid as well) decision to make my way to the race start (thanks Joe Brooks for the lift). I wanted to race for 3 main reasons:

1. to support the organisers as they're my friends;
2. to test the course as its on the same course I have my A'Race for the first part of this season

3. the top price was a Gold Pig Money Box!!

Race started with a 500m swim in the freezing cold lake (12 degrees) in Market Bosworth. Being sick this was not the best thing to do, but oh well. I came out of the water first and after a quick transition I push as hard as I could on the bike. Legs were not there, and lungs were even less but I made it to T2 and followed that with a solid run. I was pleased with my performance in the circumstances but I'm glad I got the golden pig... I mean the win!

Now am back in the room trying to recover but feeling much better then pre-race so all is good!!

The race was fantastic, the race course is great at Market Bosworth and for those interested in racing there, on the 5th June there will be a Standard Distance Triathlon at 9.30am.

For more detials visit: http://www.spanglefish.com/FullBoarEvents/

Dermot

DGTri Athlete Report - Samantha Anderson

Full Boar Super Sprint Triathlon

Sunday 15th May 2011

On 15th May I raced the Full Boar,
A 500m swim – that was maybe a little more,
A 15k bike and a 2.5k run,
Meant it wouldn’t be long before I was done.
The sky was grey and the wind was tough,
The lake was choppy and looked a bit rough,
I was trying to psyche myself up to win,
But when I looked at the water I didn’t want to get in!
The marshals were friendly, the crowds were great,
I missed the race briefing as I was running late,
So into the lake for a quick warm-up splash,
Then onto the start line to begin the mad dash.
The hooter went off and I got a good start,
From the middle of the pack I started to part,
Up with the leaders and into my style,
I was swimming in third place….but just for a while.
I felt strong and relaxed, a good place to be,
Sighting was good, the buoys were clear to see,
Around the lake once and I grabbed the marshals hand,
I was the fourth athlete out back onto land.
Intro transition, where things always go wrong,
Getting out of my wetsuit took me too long,
The straps on my helmet were all in a knot,
To check it beforehand I had forgot!
Eventually I was off and onto the ride,
Overtaking a guy, I left him behind.
The wind was still strong, pushing you back
Energy and power I started to lack.
I was overtaken back by the guy I had passed,
My legs felt so tired and not very fast!
I carried on working as hard as I could,
And got off the bike but not as fast as I should,
Still in fourth place and back in T2,
Someone was next to me but I didn’t know who,
We ran out of T2 at the same pace,
And around the run we started to race.
“Go Sam! Go!” Everyone said,
But the guy next to me was getting ahead.
I felt quite strong and enjoyed the run,
1st lady home meant I had won!
I was fifth overall and am pleased to say,
That I am proud and happy with my race day.
Despite the wind and the rain,
I’m motivated now to go back and train!

SAM

DGTri Athlete Report - Simona Carena

Hinckley Half Marathon

Hinckley Half was my 3rd race of this season, second half marathon and the last event before going in to the Triathlon season proper. I was aiming at another PB after the good run at Milton Keynes in March and the Duathlon in April, before shelving the long runs until next year as I felt confident that my running has been coming along very well.

The race its held in a rural venue, is extremely well organized and marshalled by the local running club, and has a short travelling distance from home. With timing chips, 5 water stations, very friendly crowd, car park within 2 minutes of the start/finish lines and low cost entry it is hard to ask for anything more! The course is undulating and from previous experience it suits me down to the ground and I was very keen to compete here. However the plan had to change as after the Duathlon in April an old injury on a knee flared up, and left me wondering if I would be able to take part in the race at all.

Thankfully Dermot came back within minutes with a changed plan, and a catalogue of suggestion that would allow me not to loose any fitness. The last 3 weeks saw me floating vertically in the pool besides the usual swimming, biking and conditioning. My trust in Dermot’s ability is such that although in my mind I could not quite comprehend how aqua jogging would maintain running fitness I literally jumped in at the deep end with the “belt of shame” and got on with “gusto” to the annoyance of other pool users and lifeguards… ;-)

Race day dawned and I have to confess that I had still some reservation about competing as only been able to string a few short runs in the previous week to test how the knee reacted. The plan in my head was to run without pressure and get a lift back if at any stage things got too uncomfortable.

I was very conservative in the first mile, boxed in the crowd anyway, as the course winds it way along narrow country lanes with a field of one thousand runners, but after that I made up a bit of time as surprisingly my knee had settled at race pace. Also I felt I had bags of energy due to such a long rest from running... or was it frustration?

Things seemed to be on an even keel so I kept going and only after 6 miles I started to feel a bit tired. My HR was higher than normal and possibly causing the feeling of slight fatigue but the legs were fine on dry land!

Dermot suggested in the last week also a bit of specific strengthening work on the knee, and I felt both leg strength and added flexibility that I can associate from the work in the water.

Up to mile 7 my splits were very good but I somehow figured out that later on things would change as after all specific tempo and speed sessions have been missed in the last weeks. Equally I was just very happy to be running and hopefully completing the distance. The sun was shining, the breeze was fresh and so I was just enjoying the feeling of being out there and trying to be as smooth and fast as possible without overdoing it and blowing up, hence I decided to ignore the watch and just try to do my best.

All the positive mind frame can only do so much over matter and by mile 9 to 11 life got a bit hard up the hills as the missed run sessions presented the bill: I was consistently slowing down, and feeling heavy legged. After mile 11 the course is mostly gently sloping downhill and that somehow help me to perk up. I started thinking of the finish line and managed to ignore some minor cramping and work to get my average speed down.

To my surprise I did cross the finish line with a PB of 7 seconds, which was not expected at all: Dermot said I would maintain, not improve my fitness!  Overall I finished just in the second half of the mixed field some 350 places in front of my last race here, and 93rd out of 332 ladies.

Credit has to be given to the coach for adapting the plan and coming up with so many good suggestions that help me stay focused and allowed me to stay positive and fit and grab a third PB in a row!

Simona

DGTri Athlete Report - Johanna Calleja

BUCS Sprint Distance Championships

Having participated in the British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) Duathlon Championships in November, Dermot and I knew that the level of the field for the BUCS Sprint Triathlon Championships on Sunday 1st May would be very high. However, we decided to represent our universities again (University of Chester in my case) and our aim was to perform well and try to improve on our position in the duathlon (I had finished 34th out of 62 females and 188th overall out of 246 participants).

We combined the race with a three-day visit to my uncle Louie and his partner John in Cheltenham, who had booked a really nice room for us in a beautiful, luxurious hotel and who spoilt us all the while we were in Cheltenham! Having arrived in Cheltenham on Saturday afternoon, on Sunday morning we made our way to Calne, Wiltshire where the race was going to be held. Getting there included 9 miles of cycling to Gloucester, 2 train rides to Bristol and Chippenham and finally another 6 mile bike ride to Calne, which was mainly uphill! I had never cycled so much before a race and wondered whether I was going to be tired before even starting!

After registration and a short run warm-up, I made my way to the pool for the start of the 750m swim time trial. I was the first to start in my lane, with three other triathletes starting at 10 second intervals after me. Two of the guys behind me overtook me and I exited the pool just after them, having completed the swim in 12:54, 51st out of 95 females. Although I felt strong in the pool, I had hoped to swim slightly faster. But I tried not to let it bother me as I made my way to transition, where Dermot was cheering me on before starting his swim.

I headed out to begin the 25km cycle and immediately realised it was going to be hard as the wind was really strong. The first half of the cycle was all against the wind and the speeds on my speedometer were disappointingly low. I was also being very cautious as we had heard that a few athletes had been disqualified or given penalties for disregarding regulations. As I reached halfway and started heading back towards transition, the wind was behind me and I kept working hard to try to make up for all the lost time in the previous half. I finished the cycle in 49:52, 26th out of the 95 female participants.

After what turned into a frustratingly slow second transition, I made my way onto the run course. Since it was a much flatter course than the one in Chirk two weeks before, I was hoping for a good time. I felt good from the start of the run. At one point I almost took a wrong turning, but the athlete behind me who I had just overtaken called out to tell me which way to turn (I thought that was true sportsmanship and really thanked her for it!). I finished the run in 22:20. Although I expected to be slightly faster as this was slower than my run in Chirk, everyone seemed to have slower times than normal and someone said that the route was longer than 5km. In fact, I was 19th in the run segment and was very pleased with that.

I finished the race 25th out of 95 females and 138th overall out of 280 participants. I was very happy as this was substantially better than my result in the duathlon. After the race, Dermot and I started to head back to Cheltenham where a delicious plate of pasta cooked by Uncle Louie awaited us. But the journey back was quite eventful with an attempted (but failed due to my tired legs) two-team time trial to the Chippenham train station, which resulted in us missing our train by a minute! After thinking we had to wait an hour, Mum saved the day by telling us we could get an earlier train, but this was delayed so we then had to sprint from one platform to another to avoid missing the next train! The coach driver kindly found no objection to our bikes on the coach so we were back at Louie and John’s flat much earlier than we thought, for another lovely evening with them.

I would firstly like to thank Louie and John for making the weekend so special, Barry and Craig at the Chester Academy for their encouragement and Dermot for his constant help and support.

Johanna

DGTri Athlete Report - Samantha Anderson

2nd May 2011

Mallory Park Triathlon

After some aquathlons and duathlons it was time for my first full triathlon of the season at Mallory Park. It was a 750m swim, a very windy 20k bike and a slightly longer 5k run. I wasn’t well prepared for this race.....I’d forgotten talc, baby oil, food....clothes and so I have written a list of stuff to take next time  but I had myself, wetsuit, bike, trainers, helmet and the determination to do well.

I hated the swim here last year so I got on the very outside away from everyone and when the hooter went I tried to keep my distance from the pack. As I was swimming I was surprised to see everyone to my right still at the same level as me; they normally speed past and leave me panicking. I enjoyed the feeling of “hey Sam, you’re doing OK” during the swim as I’ve never had that before! I was the 5th girl out of the water in 12:23 – a minute and a half faster than last year.

In T1, I struggled to get my wetsuit off but once I did and I was out on the bike I caught the girl ahead of me within the first few minutes. The bike course was 10 laps and it was the windiest bike route I have ever done. With every gust of wind I thought I was going to come off the bike; I’d start off on the inside of the lap and would be forced to the outside by gale force winds. Half the time I closed my eyes and clung on to my tri bars for dear life. I really hated the bike and felt frustrated that I wasn’t catching the other girls. I had a slow time of 38:33 but had still improved slightly from last year. Oh and they ran a ‘King of the Hill’ and ‘Fastest Lap’ bike challenge – I came 2nd on both of those.

The run consisted of 3 laps. I felt fairly strong on the run and overtook quite a lot of the guys who had been stronger than me on the bike. The girls ahead though were too far ahead for me to see, so I tried to just relax and stride out (I had some really nice new yellow trainers on so I wanted to look the part, haha!). The run was slightly over 5k so my time of 21 minutes was OK but not great.

I crossed the line as the 3rd female senior athlete in a time of 1:15:23. This was nearly 3 minutes faster than last year but I still think I have a much better performance in me for future races. I treated myself to a burger from the burger van at the finish, lol, happy days.

Sam

BUCS - British Universities Sprint Tri Championships

1st May 2011

First triathlon of the season at the Universities Sprint Triathlon Championships which were organised at the St. Mary's School grounds down in Calne. Distances were 750m pool swim, followed by 25km cycling and 5km of running. The race was a time trial format with waves, so the race started at 11.30 am with the first wave and they had waves up till 4pm. In each wave you had 4 swimmers in each lane swimming at the same time with 10sec starting intervals. This turned out to be quite challenging at times.

I started off the 750m at a good tempo and felt good all the way. The swimmers in my lane were much slower so I was lapping them and this made me wonder if I guess my current 750m time as it seemed that my allocated wave was a bit slower than I expected. Out of the water in 10.43 on my watch made me realise that, 'crap.. should have got in a faster wave,' this was a something that effected my performance throughout the whole race.

A quick transition saw me out on the bike course in a few seconds. I caught a couple of guys in the first 3km of the bike ride and that was it, a lonely 25km Time Trial in some really strong winds. It took me some time to get into my pace and the wind was not helping much. I was praying to go round a corner and have the wind behind me but that didn't happen until half way, after that it was all about turning a big gear and trying to get my average speed up to a respectable figure.

After another good transition I went out on the run trying to do my best to keep a strong pace going. Unfortunately after about 1km I went the wrong way as that part of the course wasn't marked well and I lost quite a bit of time which showed in my 19,36 split time. I still kept pushing the pace until the end to finish with a time of 1hr 14mins 10sec for 29th overall out of 280 participants. My initial target was a top 20 which unfortunately I didn't manage to achieve but it was a better result than my Duathlon Championships in November so I can go back to my training with that in mind and work hard for the next races.

I would firstly like to thank Louie and John for making the weekend so special for taking care of us (Johanna and myself). Also a special thank-you goes Bill and Pam for their constant help and support without which I would be doing very little, and Johanna's support!!

RESULTS

Dermot