DGTri Athlete Report - Johanna Calleja

Chester Triathlon Club Time Trial

I have been a member of Chester Triathlon Club since I moved to Chester last September. The club organises a winter league and a summer league for its members, with the winter league consisting of 5 types of events: running, cycling time trial, swimming, duathlon and triathlon. Each member can enter as many races as they like and their total score is calculated on the best result in each type of event.

On Sunday 20th February, I participated in the second cycling time trial organised by the club. I cycled at an average speed of 18.81 miles per hour, covering the 9.4 miles in 29:59 and finishing in third place. The temperature was about 6 degrees but the very strong wind made it feel much colder, and notwithstanding all the layers I had on, by the time I got home my toes were completely frozen!

Following solid performances in the swimming time trials organised by the club and Helsby half marathon in January, I moved up into third place in the league through my result in the cycling time trial. The next event in the league will be a duathlon on Sunday 27th February, consisting of a 5km run, 15km cycle and 5km run.

Johanna

TCR Show Saucony 10k

Sunday 13th February

As part of my preparation for the triathlon season I entered the Saucony 10km road race at the TCR Show. The TCR show is a 3 day triathlon /cycling / running expedition which is organised in Surrey. I had to go for the TCR show due to Linebreak Sponsorship to do some advertising. The show is a great opportunity to see also great athletes like Stephen and Bella Bayliss, Chrisse Wellington and Phil Graves. I wasn’t expecting a very fast time for this race as am still very early in my preparation but I was looking for a solid performance and certainly a better time than 6 weeks ago in Malta where I ran 38.45. The race started very fast and I got caught up a little bit at the back of the group. I quickly made my way close to the front. The course was not the fastest, with some very sharp steep hills. On the first lap I did 18.16. At that stage I felt very strong and starting working my way up the field. I struggled in the last 1km since it was all uphill and lost a guy whom I caught at the 9k mark. I finished with a good time of 36.46, in 17th position out of 250 starters. The race was won by Stephen Bayliss.

I am quite pleased with my performance. 4 solid weeks of training made a good impact on my fitness. I feel that I can certainly go faster, and hopefully I will keep my training momentum. Joe Brookes (DGtri athlete) was also racing and finished in a time of 45mins 45sec.
Next target is the Milton Keynes Half Marathon.

Dermot

DGTri Athlete Report - Johanna Calleja

Borders Road Running League, Chester

On Sunday 13th February, I participated in Race 4 of the Borders Road Running League in Christleton, Chester. This is a League which was set up in 1983 by clubs from North Wales and the bordering area of west Cheshire to provide friendly inter-club team competition through a series of road races over each winter. There are two divisions with the emphasis on team competition leading to relegation and promotion of 2 teams at the end of each season. For the first division, the men’s team need the first 10 male runners to finish whilst the ladies’ require the first 4 females.

268 runners from 15 clubs participated in the 9.4km race in Christleton, organised by West Cheshire Athletic Club. Despite a hard week of training and studying leading up to the race, I felt strong from the start. I finished the race in 41 minutes 45 seconds, meaning that I would have set a personal best by over 30 seconds had I run at the same pace in a 10km race. I was 15th female out of 73 and 149th overall. I was also 4th female out of the Chester Tri Club runners and the four of us placed second among the first Division ladies’ teams. The atmosphere was great, the race was very enjoyable and I was very pleased with the result!

Johanna Calleja

Linebreak Team

Dear All,

Its been now 4 months that I've been studying at Loughborough University. It wasn't easy to settle but now things have fallen into place. I'm now back to a good training routine and looking forward to some strong races in the next few weeks.

I have been given a sponsorship by Linebreak - Compression Clothing. This has been a great boost to the start of the season. I shall be joined on the LINEBREAK TEAM by 3 other athletes, Sam Anderson, Katie Silke & Mark Sykes . For more details you can visit http://www.linebreak.co.uk/

For more information about Linebreak Compression clothing read the following:

Compression clothing is very important both during and after training.

During Training:

- Tights increase blood flow reducing the build up of lactic acid;

- During Sprint sessions tights give extra support and power to legs;

- Tights reduce vibration which is a cuase of muscle tearing and soreness;

- They actually keep your muscles cool in the heat and warm in the cold;

- Reduced chaffing - items are designed to move with you offering complete comfort;

After Training:

- Put on immediately after training or a match the tights help get rid of the lactic acid and waste

product build up in the muscles - making your legs fresher;

- The tights reduce muscle and joint swelling;

- Worm prior to training Linebreak helps prepare hte muscles for exercise

Travelling:

- An ideal aid to recovery when driving home, flying abroad or on the bus home from a race

A great night for Triathlon - MOC Awards

4th December 2010

Malta triathlon probably experienced its best result today at the MOC Awards. A total of 5 triathletes were nominated for these awards.

These awards are very important for us athletes. They mean a recognition to all the hard work, time, money, headaches invested in our training.

The results for Malta Triathlon are as follow:

Dermot Galea - Bronze Award

Keith Galea - Bronze Award

Fabio Spiteri - Bronze Award

Danica Spiter - Bronze Award

Mark Zammit - Silver Award

The cherry on the cake was surely the GOLD AWARD for the National Team (Dermot, Danica, Mark) for our Gold medal in the team event earlier this year in Leithenstain. I am certainly very pleased with this award, for the team effort and also for my individual award.

Triathlon has made gaint steps forward in the last 3 years thanks to the big efforts by the Malta Triathlon Associations, local clubs like my own club Birkirkara St. Joseph and the newly established Triathlon section at St. Patricks, and also individual efforts by athletes to strengthen the participation in our sport which once, not so long ago, totalling a few individuals.

I would like to thank my sponsors, supporters (especially some special ones in the UK), my club and association, my parents and my girlfriend Johanna for their constant support and understanding. Special thank-you for my mum who picked up the award in my absence while I am enjoying the fresh UK weather!

Well done to all!!

2011 here we come..............

BUCS - British Universities Duathlon Championships

Sunday 21st November 2010

It's been a while since my last blog update. Now I have moved to the UK to do my MSc. Exercise Physiology at Loughborough University. The last couple of months have been quite hard to adapt back to the student life and get back to the books to study, but now am finding my rhythm.

About three weeks ago I took part in the Bosworth Duathlon where I finished 9th overall. Not such a good result considering I have won that event two years ago but a good effort to find my race fitness in preparation for the Univeristies Duathlon Championships. I have managed to train consistentaly in the following weeks averaging 10hrs a week of training. Certainly not my usual load of training but what do you expect when you are doing a Masters??? Not easy to find the time with all the reading you have to do!!!

We left Loughborough University at 8.30am, and it took us 2.5hrs to get to destination. The race consisted of 2Miles run, 10Miles bike, and 2Miles Run on a racing track at Chippenham - a flat course. Our start was due at 2.15pm. Johanna, who was racing for Chester University started at 2pm. This was her first multi sport race in the UK so we were both very excited. We started the first 2Mile run at speeds I have never experienced before. I haven't raced so short for quite a while and this was a big shock to the system. I finished the first run in 11.21, not a bad time considering the limited training I have been doing. On the bike I was expecting much better then the 23.42 split I produced. Unfortunately my bike seat went down and I couldn't push the pace as I wished, but still I managed to recover a few places. I finished my last 2mile run in 11.40 for a total time of 48.22. Overall I came 36th out of 250 starters. Johanna had a very good race. She finished 35th out of 75 starters with a time of 59mins 30sec.

As the first official race of the 2010 - 2011 season it was a reasonably good results. Hopefully I will manage to log in some good hours of training to push my performance to another level.

Back soon!

Dermot

Ironman France - A hard day at the office

Ironman France is over now with all its ups and downs. It was another experience at Ironman racing. This was my fifth Ironman finish. The race started off with a 3.8km sea swim in the calm waters of Nice. They didn't remain calm for long as 3000 competitors had to aim for the same bouy. I had a reasonably good start but after a few hunderd metres I started to get smashed from the other swimmers. Eventually I managed to settle into a good rythm. We had one big lap of 2.1km and a small lap of 1.8km. I finished the swim in 59mins 22sec in 100th position and 17th in my age group.

After a relative quick transition, changing from swimming clothing to cycling clothing, I set off on the bike for the hard 180km bike course. The first transition took me 4mins 29sec which wasn't too bad considering I had to put a cycling top & arm covers and run a total of 800m to get to the bike rack. The bike course was much harder then I thought it would be. Fair enough I knew there were mountains but if you are not trained for them you cannot expect to come off the bike to run a marathon fresh. After 30km on the bike course we had the first difficulty of the day, a 1km climb at 10%. This actually helped me to wake up and get into a good rythm for the rest of the bike ride. I started having my nutrition as planned with gels every 30mins but I was getting way too thirsty since it was very hot. In between every aid station (20km) I was drinking two bottles of energy drink. After 50km we had the first mountain, 25km on non stop climbing, and this really killed my legs. I was being careful to keep my heart rate effort between 160 - 165 so that I dont blow up and looking back I am glad I was cautions. After that mountain it was always up and down, up and down. In the end I was glad to see the finish of the bike section. I covered the 180km bike ride in 5hrs 43mins at an average speed of 31.41km/hr.

After another quick transition, 3mins 40sec I set off for the 4 lap marathon course. For the first 2 laps I was doing quite well, and was predicting that I could finish comfortable under 10hrs 30mins. But once I started the 3rd lap my legs just blew up. I had some gastric problems as well and I was reduced to a walk / jog action. The last lap on the run was just a long walk. I was suffering from a heat stroke, and although the temperatures were up in the 30 degrees region I was feeling cold, not a good sign!!

I finally finished the event in 11hrs 05mins 20sec. I came 405th overall and 44th in my age group (25 - 29yrs). The result was certainly not what I was looking for but I also did it for a good cause, which is very important for me and helps me getting over the disappointment of this result, because whatever everyone tells me, it was a disappointing result. I'm not saying this because I am down, it takes much more to break me. What matters with finishing is that I raised funds for the Malta Hospice Movement in doing this race so that gave me the energy to overcome the bad moments during the run to push myself to finish, and I am glad I did.

I would like to talk all those supporting me all the way, my girlfriend Johanna for her constant support throughout the preparation and on race day, my parents, my great friends William and Pam who got me a Malta Flag to run through the finish with it, which was a fantastic experience, and all those who followed the race on internet. I would like also to thank my sponsors KIWAMI, DIADORA, Profile Design, Powercranks & Starbene Health Shop for their help.

A special thank-you goes to all those who supported my fundraising activity for the Malta Hospice Movement. This was my first personal venture to help other people in need and would like to dedicate it to my friend Dr. Michael Aquilina.

Currently the sum is around €1350.

Those wishing to give their last donation can do so through the following channels. By sending an SMS to: With Dermot Galea - Ironman

5061 7384 €2.33
5061 8100 €4.66
5061 9234 €11.65

By Bank Deposit:

HSBC Bank (Malta) Ltd: Account No. 011 089 901 051
Bank Of Valletta Account No. 102 106 450 12
APS Bank Account No. 111 983 100 19
Lombard Bank (Malta) Ltd Account No. 014 401 041 08
Banif Bank (Malta) plc Account No. 000 035 651 81

Thanks to all for your support