There was a moment after Barcelona that I thought “well, that’s it” and for some Triathletes, Cyclists, any sports person really as they reach the end of their season it’s all a bit too quiet and they slump into some kind of deep depression where they have no goals, no training sessions to complete and nothing really to do. The same goes with the Blog – it was completed, not the way I’d want to leave things to be fair but there wasn’t much to talk about.
And then…..
Your feet start to get itchy, you look at next year’s events and start researching the courses, the athete’s information from last year’s event and then the emotions start to get going, you start to think about next year’s training plans to get you where you want to be.
And then…..
You enter your events for next year and it all starts again! More journeys and more to talk about.
In the meantime I had Challenge Peguera and Long Course Weekend in Majorca to complete…
This was Suzy’s “A Race”, she was keen to get nearer the 6-hour mark and qualify for GB next year. I had played my part in sabotaging this for her as I contracted a chest infection just after Barcelona. I guess the physical stress after 9-12 months of training for a Long Course Event had taken it’s toll on my body and I unfortunately passed it on to her a few days later. So we both headed off to Sunny Majorca on the Thursday afternoon both with breathing difficulties 🙁
We travelled with Beccles Triathlon Club friends Danny & Michelle Sayer. I was involved in the Mixed Relay (The East Anglian Monkeys Team Name) event whilst Suzy was doing the Middle Distance on her own. Danny was swimming – his two channel swims earlier in the year definitely put us in good stead for the first discipline of the relay. My bike leg would hopefully be good enough for Katie Garrity – another BTC member who we were meeting out there to complete a half-decent Half Marathon in around 1:45 to be competitive for the Mixed Relay Competition. I think it was safe to say we were all at the end of a good year and just wanted to Majorcan sunshine to race in and if we got a result then that’d be a bonus.
We arrived in Palma airport after a delayed flight around 2am, not the best prep for Suzy, in hindsight we should’ve travelled a day earlier so we could at least climatise for a few days before the event. After a lengthy wait for our TT bikes to come through and queueing behind a guy who didn’t read the smallprint on his car hire we set off to the hotel arriving just after 3am. A quick snack at the all-inclusive hotel restaurant and we were off to bed.
The following day was all about registration, athletes briefing – in English this time! The Pasta Party and racking the bikes. Once this was done we chilled out for a bit in the bar by the pool and settled down for the race the next day. There were a few questions at the athelete’s briefing about relay changeovers and numbers but that was sorted quite quickly. As I had entered for our team my name appeared on the runner’s number – I felt quite guilty for Katie as it should have been her name on the number but she didn’t seemto mind. Suzy had sorted her bags out and bike racking in plenty of time too despite sleeping in the afternoon trying to get rid of this chest infection. Again…feeling guilty 🙁
Race Day came and it was all about Suzy, I tried to be as helpful as possible but she knew the drill, nerves were there and we headed off to the startline at the beach as best as we could. The Relay start times were several minutes after the Age Groupers but we worked out that Danny would overtake Suzy in the water so I would’nt be able to see her until somewhere out on the bike route.
Once Suzy was in the water I watched Danny start and I knew I had about 30-minutes to get sorted and be ready for the T1 transition. It seemed like a lifetime waiting for him but it was only a couple of minutes over his anticipated time. I had seen a few Relay T1 exchanges of the chip before me so I knew we were out of the running at that point. I set off, running out of transition, up the ramp to get us on the road and away I went hoping that my breathing would not hinder my ride….it did! I was merely 500 metres from the bike start and I was coughing and spluttering with a heart rate of 165bpm and a measurably lower power figure staring at me. This (sort of) settled down after about 20 minutes, the inital climb put me in the red straight away and after a quick descent I was able to start picking off competitors one-by-one. The fact the relay event started last enabled me to have endless carrots in front of me and throughout the whole ride not one rider came past me – just like Barcelona. Onto the second lap and I started getting in amongst the age groupers who were also quit ehandy on the bike but again, I passed them all before coming into T2 and handing over to Katie.
I missed Suzy coming in off the bike although I did see her out on the course on Lap 1 shortly after a U-Turn at about 30km so I headed off to the hotel to have a shower, get changed into my Beccles Triathlon “Finishing T-Shirt” and walked over to the run course where I met up with Danny & Michelle near the finish line.
I saw her at around 10km and she was struggling, her breathing was really slowing her down but she was still on target for a 6hr time. She almost slumped into my arms full of emotion when she ran towards me and I seriously didn’t think she would do the full distance but I said “come on, you’re doing great, keep going” and off she went. She’s made of sterner stuff, she’d finish it.
We waited for Katie to come round for her final lap and the three of us ran across the line for our relay photo – not before Danny accidently tripped Katie up with 200m to go!
As it transpired we had finished 2nd in the Mixed Relay and 4th overall with a time of 5:05hrs 🙂
After our celebrations I then walked to the finishing area and waited for Suzy to finish which she did in 6:10hrs, some 40 seconds behind her 2017 time. For someone with a chest infection that was amazing – but I could tell that Suzy was unimpressed with her time. Her run & bike training had served her well, even with breathing difficulties she managed to PB the swim by a few minutes, the bike was about the same and the run was also a PB. Her new Canyon bike had also served her well. Although it didn’t pan out on the day as she wanted it’s good to know the new machine saw her go faster.
That evening we went to the presentation ceremony and picked up our 2nd place trophy and invite to next years Challenge Championships at Samorin in Slovakia in June. Danny’s comment said it all – “this is the tits isn’t it?” he said as we waved at the crowd after our podium! This has seriously created a focus for the three of us over the next 6 months – we’ve already estimated about 30 minutes of improvements if we took the training seriously which is close to the 4:28hrs that won the mixed relay champs in this year’s championships – i’m getting buttlerflies in my stomach just thinking about it.
The following day the 4 of us moved across the island to Alcudia where we settled into our respective hotels. Suzy & I opted for a more low-key hotel to base ourselves out of as we had planned a few rides out to some of my favourite climbs & towns in Majorca. Danny & Michelle hadn’t bought their bikes and were hiring some for the following weekends’ Long Course Weekend event.
During the week we met up daily after doing our own thing, I took Suzy for a ride to Petra, a small town some 20-miles away and we had lunch in the town square. The following day all 4 of us went to the Caves Of Drach where Danny & Michelle first came some 23 years ago on their honeymoon. The following day was an epic ride for Suzy as she climbed Sa Colobra – one of Majorca’s “must do” climbs. She was smashed afterwards but happy to have done it – all on a chest infection!
On the Thursday afternoon Suzy’s mother and Sarah Heatley from BTC came out to Majorca to take part in the LCW with us. After picking them up from the airport in our hire car we were all together in the Globales Hotel for the last part of our trip. The all inclusive wrist band has served me well and I am looking forwards to burning off the (probably) 7/8 kg’s i’ve added onto my waistline in those 5 days at this hotel!
Friday saw us all go to the “Lighthouse” at Formentor on our hire bikes. The route was lumpy but the sun was out and it was a pleasureable ride. My times of 1hr each way from Pollenca roundabout were nothing in comparison to the 38-minute ride with the DAP boys in the spring but it was still a bit tough. This was Danny, Michelle & Sarah’s first experience of any climb longer than a few minutes and they all did well considering. Danny was more concerned with the descents and the hairpin bends that, without brakes, would send you over a 100-200ft cliff and ultimately to hospital.
Saturday was Swim day at LCW and Suzy & Danny opted for the full course 3800m which they did in 1:06 and 1:21. Johnathon did it in 1:16. In the afternoon Sarah & I did the 750m swim and we both completed it in just under 16 minutes. We met up with Jonathon Weavers – another BTC member who was doing the long course options over the whole weekend Massive Kudos to Sarah who did her first open water competitive swim. I was swimming along side her for the last part and asked if she was ok with about 100m to go and we both came in together. Job done – medal acquired.
Sunday was Bike day, we had all opted for the long 176km bike leg to start with. The heavens opened and we set off in thunder & lightning and torrential rain. Some parts of the course were under water but shallow enough for us to ride through. Some of us were struggling, due to the distance, the weather and possibly the ride on Friday so speeds weren’t fast and we were conscious of the 3.5hr cut off time for the first lap. At 60km we told Jonathon t go ahead as we might not make the cut-off. As it happens we all did. At the 88k mark Sarah called it a day and finished to collect her medal. With Jonathon up the road the four of us carried on to complete the 2nd lap. Danny & Michelle told me & Suzy to carry on without them at around 25k into the 2nd lap and we headed off and set a tempo both of us could hold. Soon afterwards the 1-lap race came through behind us and we latched onto the 3rd group coming in at around 2:45 for the 2nd lap. We actually caught Jonathon up with 20km to go and I sat on the front bringing home a group of a dozen riders. Jonathon’s comment “c’mon Nick – light it up” with 2k to go was quite funny! We waited for Danny & Michelle to finsh which they did at around 7hrs.
Monday was Run day and we met at the start line at 9am to see Jonathon go for his marathon, hopefully with not lot of fatigue in his legs from the bike ride. Off he went and we cheered him on each time he came through past out hotel. We all took part in the 10k run in the afternoon, coming in between 48 & 60 minutes, including Suzy’s mum – her only event for the weekend. The weather was still bad, raining throughout the whole day making it miserable for Jonathon’s 3:46hr time.
With that we all went to the medal ceremony and watched Jonathon take his place in the victory parade where he received a 4th medal to show he completed the long course options of all the disciplines. With that the sun came out and it was warm in the afternoon! Bloody typical.
And then we came home the next day….!
Well that’s it for 2018’s events for me (as such). I’m sure Suzy will enter me into some cross-country events over the winter but now it’s all about the journey to Majorca 70.3 on May 11th 2019 and Samorin at the Championships 3 weeks later in Slovakia where we’ll improve on our 2nd place 🙂
My training starts on Monday 5th November where I’ll seek to improve my swims and runs and consolidate my bike performances. I want to go sub-5hrs and in reality I’m about 15-20mins from that so it’ll be interesting to see how it’ll pan out.
The journey continues….