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

DGTri Athlete Report - Samantha Anderson

Warwickshire Aquathlon - 23rd April 2011

Another weekend....another race! Only this time it was on a much smaller scale. The Warwickshire aquathlon was a fairly low key event around St Nicholas Park, Warwick and consisted of a 400m swim and 3.2k run.

I had a late start time of 12.28pm....just when it started to get hot!! I was quite relaxed for this race and just wanted to enjoy it after such a big race last weekend. I had a clear swim with only 1 other girl in my lane. Just like running, I’ve been trying to learn to pace my swim better so I don’t go off too hard. I enjoyed the swim and felt like I was swimming comfortable and my time (which also included my transition time) totalled 6.45; I think I swam a sub 6.30 so I was pleased with that.

The run was only 2 laps of the park and although I wanted to run relaxed because the race was so much shorter I knew I had to make up a bit of time on the faster swimmers. I got a stitch after a couple of minutes...I can’t remember the last time I had a stitch! I don’t think I’d eaten enough before the race; I’m not sure. I tried to just relax and run through it. I got a lot of support from other club members and felt like I was running at a decent pace so started to just stride out. I finished the run in 13:47. My combined time (20:47) was good enough for first place – nearly a whole minute ahead of the next finisher.

I don’t think I raced to the best of my ability on the day but it was a decent, solid performance to build on. It was a great atmosphere and I have a nice new plaque to add to the collection (oh and a £25 gift voucher to buy trainers, yay!).

Tri-247 Results

Samantha

DGTri Athlete Report - Johanna Calleja

Chirk Sprint Triathlon

On Sunday 17th April I participated in Chirk Sprint Tri, my first triathlon in the UK and the last event of Chester Tri Club’s winter league. Starting the race at the top of the league and following consistent performances in training and races over the winter, I was looking forward to a strong start to the triathlon season.

The triathlon, which consisted of a 400m pool swim, 24km cycle and 5km hilly run, started in the morning but luckily I wasn’t setting off till the afternoon, giving me time to get to Chirk by train. I arrived early and was informed that we would be starting 20 minutes behind schedule, so I took the opportunity to familiarise myself with the transition area and the start and finish of the bike and run, while chatting to some of my friends from Chester Tri Club and watching others finish their race.

After setting up my equipment in transition, I made my way to the poolside. It was strange starting a race without being able to do a swim warm-up, but we set off and I managed to get into quite a good rhythm. I finished the swim in 6:39 in 8th place and ran out to my bike for a quick transition before starting the cycle. Since it was a time trial and I wasn’t racing with a watch, I had no indication of how I was getting on, but I got onto the bike and started working hard.

A couple of weeks before I had gone to Chirk with some other Chester tri club members to cycle the bike course and I’m very glad I did as it was quite a strange course. The scenery (which is beautiful!) is deceptive in that it makes the road look flat, but in actual fact on the way out you are steadily climbing, whereas you go back down quite fast apart from a hill towards the end. In general, the roads were really bumpy, but the beautiful weather made it all very enjoyable, although being overtaken by the fast guys behind me was slightly less enjoyable!

My 1st transition and cycle time was 45:16, 11th fastest of the female participants. As I started the run, I was quite worried as it’s a renowned hilly course, with one guy being convinced it was 10km just because the hills made it feel so long!

Although I had pushed hard on the bike, my legs felt surprisingly fresh as I started the run and I felt strong throughout (although being overtaken by the Chester tri club member who ran the fastest time of the whole field (16:22!!) did make me feel slightly slow). I ran cautiously as I kept thinking it was going to get worse, but as we turned round to head back I started to think that maybe it wasn’t as bad as I thought. As I ran up the last hill, I started realising that I had been a bit too cautious, as I was still feeling quite fresh. It might have worked in my favour as I finished strong and even overtook a few runners on the way, but I think if I had been less cautious, I might have been able to go slightly faster.

My 2nd transition and run time was 22:00, so I was pleased to have run under 22 minutes on such a hilly course. This was the ninth fastest time of the female participants and I finished the race in 1:13:55, in 8th place out of 128 females and in 91st place overall out of 368 competitors. Having crossed the finish line, it was time for another quick transition to gather all my belongings and race back to the train station to get the train back to Chester and finish my 5,000 word assignment which was due the next day!

I was really pleased with my placing in the race and with my result, which was good enough for me to win the club league, with a score of 466.36% out of a potential 500. I have a couple of triathlons planned for May, the first being the BUCS Sprint Triathlon on the 1st May, followed by the Full Boar Sprint Triathlon on the 15th May. I’m looking forward to a good season, and would like to thank Dermot for always believing in me, Chester Tri Club, and Barry, swimming coach at the Chester Academy.

RESULTS

LEAGUE RESULTS

Johanna

DGTri Athlete Report - Samantha Anderson

European Duathlon Championships - 16th April

This is the first time I had been to a major duathlon championship so was not sure how it would compare with the big Triathlon Champs.....I wasn't disappointed. The atmosphere was great, the crowds were big and the city was buzzing!

The morning of the race, I pulled on my GB kit, listened to a bit of Miami 2 Ibiza by Tinie Tempah to get the adrenalin going and started to psyche myself up. I got to the start and chatted (as usual) to everyone and anyone. The horn went off and the race was on (I was on the start line in plenty of time this time!) I've been trying to get better at pacing so I held back a bit like at Dambuster. The 10k was 4laps and I tried to stay relaxed. I got loads of support from my Mum and other people who knew me. I thought I was speeding up at the end and was on for a 39 min 10k but had misjudged the last stretch up to transition so clocked 41:05

Stopped in T1 for a quick gel (mae much less mess than last time, yay!) and had a good look round (easily distracted) and then headed out onto the bike.

The bike was 5 laps with lots of dead turns and technical bits - I lost time on these bits but worked hard on the dual carriageway to catch the others. I felt like I was going really well until the end of the third lap whenn I hit a pothole and completely lost control of the bike, I was swerving all over the road before I managed to unclip my feet. As I was looking at the bike the marshals were busy trying to drag me off the course, saying I was a danger to the other riders. I was worried I had a puncture but it turns out the back wheel had just come out. I tried to fix it as quick as I could but the more I rushed, the worse I made it! I felt a bit tearful seeing all the other cyclists going past. It felt like forever but eventually the wheel slotted in again, I tightened the skewer back up, clipped my feet in and off I went on my last 2 laps. It tooks me a while to get my head back in to the race and I was relieved to finishedthe bike in 1.09.47

A quick T2 and I ran my frustration out on the 5k. I felt really strong and was enjoying myself, An Irish girl overtook me with 1k to go and I wish I'd have pushed harder - she beat me by 9 seconds. I finished the 5k in 18:47 which meant I'd finished in 9th place.

Overall I was pleased with my 2:12:25 finish time and overall position. It was a really fantastic experience and I loved being a part of it. With recent results, and Dermot's encouragement, I'm finally starting to believe in myself as an athlete now and I'm excited about future races.

Sam

DGTri Athlete Report - Simona Carena

1485 No Frills Duathlon – Market Bosworth Water Trust Park

Sunday’s morning was the perfect sunny spring day and any doubts about taking part in the Duathlon were immediately dispelled as I woke up and looked outside the window. I am not a great fan of this type of races for two simple reasons: I get left back from the start, and the second run hurts like hell and feels as fast as running on a treadmill the wrong way round. But I was also curious to see how things might have changed after working with Dermot for over a year, although not specifically on Duathlon.

In the last month I have been still delighted with my progress and result after the half marathon so I found myself very motivated to give it a go. Dermot’s latest training plan included a bit more cycling, an area that we left ticking over in the background during the winter. And cycle more I did in the much improved weather. The race consisted of 5k run in the park, flat and on grass or gravel surface, 21K of slightly undulating country lanes around Market Bosworth and a second helping of 5k on the same course. I was hoping for a time of 1.45, some 20 minutes faster than my last attendance at this race in a cold February a couple of years ago.

The field of participant was over 80 people with both very strong athletes down to first timers. The organization from the 1485 Triathlon Club is second to none, and they seem to be able to stage an awesome quality race at such a small cost. It was great to meet a few friends in the relaxed atmosphere and as the coach did suggest I tried to find a slightly faster athlete to pace me round and get that little bit more out of my legs. I managed to find a friend from a previous club, Gabriella, that I know is an experienced runner that paces well and faster, so we got ready on the start line for the first leg of the event with a specific run target in mind. At the starting gun a hoard of runners sets off around us, but we did not loose our head and soon got in a even steady pace. After 700 mt we start to real in the first to tire out. I felt quite relaxed and efficient, every now and then a bit fatigued but I thought the pace was spot on.

My intention was not to overcook the first run, try for a solid bike spit and avoid having to crawl around on the last leg! By the end of the first run we managed to pass a few more people, and get in transition in a time of 25:38; I have to say that I was very surprised! I quickly shoot out of transition but got stuck in the exit barrier of the park as a large vehicle was blocking the road. As soon as that was out of the way I just saw Gabriella flashing past on her shiny new fast bike (carbon envy or what!!) and I gave chase in the hope to keep in touch and may be benefit from some more pacing the second run. Alas, not today! She was out of sight faster than you can say “bling” and just a few shiny sparkles were left in her wake! What a pleasant surprise to find my legs on the bike within 500 mt. I always have struggled with cycling after running, and generally the first 2-3 miles of a duathlon have always been a big waste of minutes.

It seems that the well structured training has had a positive impact. I was so excited to be able to overtake a bunch of people on the first mile and then a few more later on through the winding lanes. I felt I was tiring out on the last 3 miles. I avoided checking my watch, but I was starting to be a bit unsure of my time as I was not feeling efficient any more. My bike split was 45:36 average of 17.5 mph. I am very happy with that as I know I have much more work to do on the bike, but it is the fastest that I ever went round that course. Transition was quick, for me, 33” and off I went round the lake again. My legs were feeling numb rather than sore and I was more mincing than running for ten minutes before I felt normal again; somehow it must have been a fast mincing as in spite of the feeling a growing sense of discomfort I was just one second slower than the first run. Total time 1:38:01, that beats my last overall time at the same event by over 27 minutes... and is way faster that I expected! I think I am now a converted Duathlete...

Thanks to Dermot! ;-)