Achievement motivation in ultra running, ironman and endurance sport

I've not written a blog in a while, and for the masses that are wondering what happened in Transalpine 2012 after my last post - I'm going to be lazy and refer you to Lotte's race report (part 1 and part 2) :-)

The seed for this post was actually planted during my participation Transalpine this year, and relates to that of achievement motivation in endurance sport. Its a topic that I have been chewing over for a while now, and even after extensive thought, I'm still not sure I've got to the bottom of it. Anyway, here goes:

What first appealed to me about endurance events (ultras, marathons, ironmans etc) is that to just to finish was an achievement. The battle to be had was with the race itself. Not that there isn't a competitive aspect to every "race", but there was fundamentally something welcoming and encouraging about the fact that my performance wasn't going to compared so much with my competitors (a competitive climate) but with myself (a mastery climate).

The fact I, (and many others) have been drawn to this aspect of endurance sport isn't surprising. There is research to suggest that mastery climate fosters task involvement, where persistence, and personal improvement are rewarded. In competitive climates however, only the best prosper and it can be an extremely debilitating environment for those who are less able.

According to Nicholls' (1984) Achievement Goal Theory, there are two basic stable personality orientations: task or ego-oriented. The former prefers to participate in a given activity more for the opportunity for self-improvement, whilst the latter head out and like measure success relative to those directly around him/her. Although this is a somewhat simplified description of the theory, I think its enough to go by. Cury et al. (1997) showed how task-oriented people are far more likely to select challenging tasks so that they have the opportunity to assess their development that they have achieved through persistence. It follows, that those who tend to participate in endurance events, are likely to be task-oriented the scraps of research that have been conducted on the topic would seem to point in this direction also; Krouse et al. (2011) found that female ultra runners had a tendency to be task-oriented.

MICRO

Now not to get too far into this, but musings have led me to consider the bigger picture. I believe within each race (lets call this the micro-level) a mastery climate is more or less predominates. On any given day, while the ego-oriented amongst us are free to look at just how far up the 2nd from last page or results they came, most will contextualize their performance relative to their personal goals, reminisce and head home. Only a small percentage really seem to care that much about how they did relative to others, and thats perfectly ok.

MACRO

When you zoom out a little, I think the mastery climate is somewhat diminished. People naturally begin to compare between races (lets call this the macro-level). You get all the talk of the toughest, the hardest, the longest etc. (a blog post in its own!)  In doing so, I don't think its unfair to say that maybe what an individual has achieved say in a less difficult race, might often be overshadowed by more 'impressive' achievements, even amongst those in the know! Personally however, I like to think I value some of my less notable achievements far more than some of the more "impressive" ones.  A good example of this came up at a recent race I attended. During the race briefing, the organiser spent a few moments welcoming the group, then went on to specifically mention a few of the more outstanding achievements of the competitors toeing the start line. I'm all for celebrating success and was it inspiring? Sure. Also, was it important to recognise the influential names who's opinions might help define the success of the event in future years? Definitely. But I can't help but think what those taking part in their first ultra may have thought when the goliath challenge ahead of them was effectively devalued amidst the trans-national and trans-contienental accolades of their very immediate others. It reminded me of animal farm a little actually.....

"All ultra runners are equal, but some are more equal than others"  

Ok, maybe that was a bit far, but hopefully you get the jist? Now there was no negative intent at all in the organiser's words, quite the opposite, but I think it shows how when you look at more than just one race, the aspects of a competitive climate begins to surface. Needless to say, this comparison of races is a bit of a pet-peeve of mine, and something that I think is kind of missing the point! (but thats just my opinion - each to their own).

META

The final level it made me consider was the contrast between those who participate in endurance sport and those that don't participate at all (let's call it the meta level). Here, I think the balance between the mastery/competitive climate is heavily in favour of the latter. Even though all your mates  might ride 100 miles every weekend, get up at 5.30am to go running all the time, or train 15 hours a week, you are in the minority.  I suppose it feels like a collective narcissism of sorts, where it the 'why' and 'how' of what you do are lost, and people 'looking in' only see the number....... 26.2, 112, 50, 100.....

I've tried to conceptualise the three layers below. Red denotes a competitive climate, and blue a mastery climate. The Micro-levels are the races, where the mastery climate predominates. In the context of this environment, for the most part, the task-oriented can thrive and prosper. As you begin to look at the broader picture and the wider endurance scene, denoted by the pill shaped area - the competitive climate starts to make itself known. Here the substance and value of personal goals can be lost amongst someone who has gone harder, faster and longer.  Finally, at the meta-level, where those that do and those that don't are compared, the entire world of endurance sport is nearly enveloped, where what you do, seems to start to say something about who you are.

As far as I can tell, I'm task-oriented, which might explain why the comparative nature of the ego-oriented types, and their influence on the endurance environment bothers me a little. This post didn't turn out how I expected it to, and its pretty loose on the ground in terms of theory. It's certainly not watertight and I've not even really touched upon achievement motivation in competition - a pretty relevant topic. I've more tried to explain my perspective (very crudely) of how the dynamics of competitive and mastery climates interact in different contexts within in endurance sport.

If you want to test whether you are task or ego oriented you can do so here. Doesn't mean much on its own, but might explain why its important to you that came 655th NOT 656th in your Age-group.....in the 12th wave.....on the Saturday, not the Sunday......

I hope you enjoyed reading, and welcome all comments.

Final Preparations - The Gore-tex Transalpine Run 2012

So the final preparations are more or less complete, and somehow, against all odds, Lotte and I will seem to be on course to toe the start line in Ruhpolding in a 2 days time. Training this year has gone well, more so for myself than Lotte, who was hampered by a couple of issues (back and foot) post Roth. Despite this, we have got in a good amount of running together at the weekends with Lotte coping well with the consistent running.

For myself, after 7 days complete rest post-Roth, I've managed to get back into the swing of things pretty quickly. I've got to the gym for 1-2 hours each week which keeps things ticking over nicely, and got through approx. a 15 hour week of running with no niggles of note. The last couple of weeks, I've focused on consolidating that bigger week and staying supple (by my standards). I've had a couple of massages and things are looking good. I think its funny when you put the time spent training in the context of the race, which this year I estimate might take up to 50 hours; the larger volume week (week 4 - approx. 90 miles) is completely dwarfed.

Transalpine run-in, and predicted run 2012

 I feel I've managed my recovery well since Roth too. I did nothing for a week, and despite a wobble at the end of July (stag-do for a friend), I've managed to get enough rest to prevent major deterioration. As you can see, having rested up this week, I'm now feeling pretty good heading into the weekend.

Restwise score - Roth to Transalpine

Compare this approach from 2011, where after running the NDW (week 4) and pulling out due to a knee issue, I did very little approaching the race. Wise to rest up perhaps, but I've certainly noticed I run best when carrying a little more consistency and form into a run. That said, almost anything can happen in stage race of this proportion, so I guess we'll have to wait and see as to whether my approach has paid off. In 2010 I completed the race off just 18, 25 and 30 miles in the 3 weeks leading into the race, so maybe its actually really easy and you don't need to do any training at all ;-)

Transalpine run-in 2011

In addition to the higher volume I've managed this year, I've complemented my training with my POWERbreathe device. I'd like to say I've really gone to town on the functional strength work whilst using it over the last 6 weeks, but in reality, I've just made sure I kept things ticking over. With only a couple days work a week (morning and evening sessions 30 breaths, twice daily) I've easily managed to sustain the level I reached from my foundation training before Roth. Its encouraging to see that the gains I made have stuck, and are so easy to maintain.  Although everyone is different, for me, anything above 2,200m seems pretty noticeable, so I'm looking forward to the benefits that the POWERbreathe training should bring with it.

I can't wait to get back out there, and as there is a good group of us going out together, there will undoubtedly be some good memories to remember for several years to come.

The photo below is from part of the route on stage 7, and a view I remember well. Its also been my desktop background since 2010. Let's hope the weather is just as good when I return (hopefully), with Lotte (hopefully) Saturday week!

If you want to follow us during the race, please go to http://www.transalpine-run.com/alps_cross_start.htm and they have pretty good coverage of each stage! We are Team POWERbreathe UK - number 90!

Sussex CTS Marathon (in pictures!)

So I had hoped to write up a report about this race, but as ever I have found that by not writing something immediately, life gets in the way.  My girlfriend however, managed to get something down, so here is a link to her blog. Having run the race with her, although her report offers a different perspective, I would say it is a (mostly) accurate account of events.

http://lotte-carritt.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/east-sussex-cts-marathon-race-report.html

What am I bringing to the party you may ask? (other than my excellent pacing ;-)) - well here are some photos that I did manage to take of the race, and a pictorial account of the day.

Gary gives the race briefing (no new jokes)

Lotte and Gemma at the sunny start...

Lotte steams off early on, the hills soon sorted that out...

One of the hills that slowed her down...

The course cruelly took us back past the start on several occasions...

Spot the clown

Bridget ended up running the last 4 miles of the half without any shoes....

Tomas collects 2nd place in the Half

Lotte collects 3rd place for the Ladies Marathon

A Nepalese goat herder collects 2nd in the Ultra

The Tri London medal haul

My reward after breaking in some new shoes

Yet another fantastic CTS event and in great conditions (as usual). Next up a block of serious training for Challenge Roth....

Wuthering Hike (Haworth Hobble) - 10th March 2012

Just for a change Lotte and I thought we would put together a joint race report
for the Haworth Hobble. Hopefully it should offer our dual perspective and hopefully make for a nice change.

Short Report - 6.01.29, 10th Mixed Pair (26 total), 119 overall (297 total)

Stats - 32miles, 4,400ft ascent (1,340m)

The Route

Pre-race and start

Andy: Unusually, Lotte arose before I did. We had kindly been put up at Ali and
Emma’s in Hebden bridge, but since Emma had taken Ali off for some more
(undoubtedly hilly) training for her attempt at the Fred Whitton, they had
left us the keys. After a long week at uni, and a long drive, I tried to convince
Lotte of the merits of the ‘John Griffin approach’. It’s a complex method, but
fundamentally involves consuming a bottle of red wine the night before a race.

Anyway, we got up around 5.45am, fed the cats, and the fish (house sitting comes
with great responsibility) and set about breakfast. Coffee with coconut oil, a
berry smoothie and stewed apple with reflex natural whey protein powder
stirred in (yum?)

Those aren't pillows, they are cats!

As we drove over to the race start in Haworth (about 8 miles) the weather did
not look promising. At the top of the hills, there was a thick cloud, it was raining,
and there was driving wind; saw a couple of wind turbines that looked as though
they were about to take off. With a relatively low volume of running, I had that
nagging feeling in the back of my head, “do I REALLY need to do this?”

Having registered and eaten some almond slice, we walked over to the start,
down a steep hill, which as Lotte correctly predicted, we were about to run
straight back up….

The walk down to the start

Lotte: I spent the night acting as a bean bag for the cats whilst Andy slept
soundly beside me. Despite my attempts to deposit the cats onto his side of the
bed they seemed to prefer my company. So I gave in and tried to let the purring
(from the cats, not Andy) lull me back to sleep. It didn’t work. After a cuppa and
some porridge we drove over to the race in miserable weather. Visibility was
pretty bad and I was reluctant to get out of the car on arrival. However, just as
we were walking to registration, the rain stopped and patches of blue appeared.
Our spirits were raised. Little did we know how short lived that would be……...

First 15 miles

Andy: Well what can I say? I didn’t see much. The weather hadn’t much
improved since our drive over, and for considerable sections of this part of the
run, it was worse. The only thing you could really hold on to was the fact that
the run was a loop, and therefore eventually, that would mean we wouldn’t be
running into a headwind. Of course, the wind could change direction with us
and by the way the day had gone so far, that would not have surprised me. I
was settling in for a long day. There was however a long downhill very runnable
section (even with the wind behind us, almost) which I very much enjoyed,
so I can’t say it was all bad. We were however mostly in cloud, which meant
that I didn’t see much more than just a grass verge for a good couple of hours,
which got quite boring. I guess its just lucky the weather wasn’t like this way back
when, or no-one would ever have found Wuthering Heights. We had soon
realised we should stay close to ‘the locals’, with no map of our own, we would
not have stood a chance on the navigation front.

A nice bit of running early on...

Lotte: Yorkshire people are a hardy bunch. Not a piece of Kenesio tape nor
compression sock in sight. Just tough folk with nothing more than a pair of Mo
Farah shorts and a vest sprinting off up the first hill as if the headwind didn’t
exist. We southerners were definitely in a different league to this lot. I felt
incredibly slow, even though our pace was decent and my heart rate was up. I
spent a lot of this first section tucked in behind Andy trying to get some shelter
from the relentless wind. As Andy enjoyed the long downhill section he asked if I
was alright as I was rather quiet. I told him I was bored. Bored of seeing nothing
but his back, there were no views to see (even though a couple of locals assured
us the views were amazing) thanks to the cloud we were running through.
Bored and fed up at 9 miles in. This was going to be a looooong day. The couple
of biscuits from mile 7 check point were wearing off and I had the hump that
the only food there was some broken biscuits. Not what I would call substantial
for a 32 mile run into the wind with 4,400ft of elevation. My 3 gels and 3 Mrs
Crimble macaroons would be gone before half way at this rate. However, as
we passed our 3 or 4th or possibly even 5th reservoir (hard to tell after a while)
and came upon checkpoint 2 @ mile 15 my spirits soared as my eyes beheld
hot cross buns, jam doughnuts, hotdogs, squash, biscuits and sweets. YEY!!!
FOOOOOOOOOOOD!! Even though Andy made me run and eat I don’t think I
have ever enjoyed a doughnut more.

Stoodley Pike revisited

Andy: Having sustained myself on 3 gels and handful of biscuits for the first
13 miles, at the 2nd aid station, I refilled my water and grabbed roughly the
equivalent of a whole packet of biscuits, more out of boredom and for something
to do (eat loads of biscuits) than anything else. With no views, the running had
been a little dull. Unusually, however, there was another checkpoint just 2 miles
down the route. More because I couldn’t resist myself, I then had a hot dog and
a hot cross bun – soon, my spirits were beginning to lift, and with it, the cloud
cover.

The ascent before the the climb up to Stoodley Pike

We trudged on, following ‘the locals’ through Todmorden, and lots of turns,
lucky not to get lost. Soon enough however, the climbing began to start proper.
Just before the ascent up to Stoodley Pike there was yet another aid station at
around 20 miles. I was almost beside myself with joy having had a jam doughnut,
some biscuits, and another hot cross bun when I realised there was a man giving
out drams of whisky. A Jura 10 years single malt – nothing special, but hey, it
was free. I’ve never tried alcohol in a race before and I think I’d try it again. It
certainly gave me that inner warmth for the climb up to the pike. We yet again
followed a ‘local’ for the fastest route. As it turned out this guy had come third
in this race 10 years previously in 4.26 – not too shabby. Even if he was a little
slower now, he wasn’t going to be wasting his time with anything but the fastest
route. We made some good time up to the pike and then back down into Hebden
Bridge. When Lotte and I had visited Ali and Emma before IMUK last year, we
had actually run out and back to Stoodley Pike from their house, so this was now
a familiar route!

Stoodley Pike about to disappear into the clouds

Lotte: On a sugar high we strode off enjoying the fact that we were almost half
way and the fog had gone. It was still windy in places, and very muddy. Anyone
who knows me knows how I feel about mud and like a proper girl, I picked my
way as delicately as possible around the worst of it but still ended up submerged
up to my ankles in black mud (and I think a not insubstantial amount of cow
poo). A local man had told us that the first 20 miles were runnable, then it got
hard. Erm…..what? THEN it got hard?!! See? Yorkshire folk. Hardcore. I tried
to convince myself that he had got it wrong, despite this being his 6th race but
had to face reality as we came upon Stoodley pike. Andy had been chatting to
a guy that looked like a pirate and I was a few paces behind when I saw Long
John Silver, Andy and a handful of others leave the path the other runners had
taken and go directly vertically up towards the top. I followed suit and gasped
my way up along side a woman who was actually on her hands and feet crawling
her way up. Steep was not the word. But it was quicker and became quicker still
when Andy got behind me and told me to “hurry up” because he was getting cold.
Yeah, next time Andy, a push up the hill would have been more conducive……..
We reached the top and the cloud again. The wind was howling up there and we
saw some people heading straight on in the distance. We couldn’t see anyone
else and as we’d been up here before and taken the left hand way down into
Hebden Bridge we stopped to wait for someone who did know. Luckily LJS knew
and we were soon running down a lovely gentle descent towards Hebden Bridge
and actually passed Emma and Ali’s house where we were staying. Had I had the
house key on me at that point…

Hebden bridge and beyond...

Andy: As we dropped down into Hebden Bridge (past the end of Ali and Emmas
road!) it was hard to convince Lotte to carry on.  I too found it difficult to convince her it would be easy going having seen a sign warning us of giant toads ahead! (Luckily Lotte didn't see this sign, or I think the day may have ended somewhat differently)

GIANT TOADS!!! AHHHH!!!

The climb over to Haworth turned out to be a long, hard, steady and uneven slog for more or less 6 more miles.  The final two miles were however downhill, but by now, it was just about getting
it done. Even though the weather had improved, my conditioning was making
itself apparent. My right hip flexor was quite sore and I too was as glad as Lotte
to finish in just over 6 hours.

We didn’t hang around for food, and headed straight back for a shower and a
stretch before getting a pork belly in the oven for a good 3.5hours. Down the pub
for a pint, then back for dinner. All in all, a good day!

Lotte: After the Everest-esque expedition up to Stoodley Pike we of course had
to drop down into the town of Hebden Bridge. By now the downhills were
harder than the ups and I actually had to lean on Andy to make running the long
descent to the town bearable. I even fell over on one of the steeper sections.
The third doughnut high had long gone and I was tired. The sun was now out
and it was hot. Of course because we had dropped back to sea level, we had to
climb back up into the clouds. This was a long long hill which was only made

better by a local man in his doorway offering sweets and juice. Normally my
upbringing would have kept me away from a stranger trying to lure me into his
house with sweets but by this point I didn’t care. The going was tough, the
ground uneven. Andys game for the day was run for 10 mins then we can
reward ourselves with a walk and some food. This seemed to work as before we
knew it a couple more miles had ticked by and we were at marathon distance in
a time of 5:03. Only 10k to go. Only another hour of running…………………. Our
walking time was over on an uphill section that everyone else was walking so as
we were running again now we passed a fair few people here. 2 mixed teams
which pleased Andy (I was way beyond caring where we finished, just as long as
we did soon) and a handful of people we’d be too-ing and fro-ing with. But as
soon as we hit the descent, they more or less all came by us again. This is by far
my weakness and I need to learn how to descend properly, even when tired. At
the bottom of this downhill section was, yup, another up. We walked this and
worked out we had about 2 miles to go. We walked mainly because everyone
else was. In fact, we should have run it as we were so close to the end. But as
soon as we got off that section of road and onto the dirt track we started to wind
it up. I told Andy to pick it up a gear and we started taking some places back.
Unsurprisingly, I loved this section, down hill and a mile from the end. A wiggly
path past a church and we popped out a few hundred meters from the school. A
lovely sunny afternoon and a good cheer from the supporters and we were finished.

Waiting for dinner...

This was a really good value for money race. £10 each and cake at the start,
food galore on 3 of the checkpoints and a hot meal and more cake at the finish.
A tough but rewarding course (well it would have been if we’d have been able
to see the views!) and a better understanding of why they call it the Haworth
Hobble.

Result!

Pilgrim Challenge 2012

So I had signed up to this race planning to get some 'multi-day' experience in with Lotte as part of our preparation for Transalpine this September.   The format is 33 miles out along the North Downs Way (NDW) on day 1, then back along the same route for day 2.  I had mixed experiences of the event; definitely well organised, but last time had got seriously lost 6 miles from the end of day two and a little bit lost on the first day too. I was however confident, having run the majority of the course since, that I would not make the same mistakes again!

After a reasonable 6am rise, Lotte and I had some breakfast (stewed apple mixed with whey protein and coffee with grassfed butter and coconut oil) and drove down the the start near Farnham.  On arrival it was a chilly -7, which caused all the portaloo flushing mechanisms to freeze solid. Fortunately I had already answered the calls of nature before I left, so it was not an issue.  I was cosy and warm in my huge Nanok down jacket from my polar kit and didn't really want to take it off to load into my bag (to be transported to Merstham - where you camp in a school hall overnight)

Over the last three weeks I've been part of some research at the British Olympic Medical Institute, and so have had a 48 hour exercise ban pre-testing before Friday morning each week.  As such most of my training has been weighted towards the weekend.  Having done little since Tuesday, I snuck in a 30 min run on Friday night to stretch my legs out a little.  They were feeling good, having also got in 7+ hours of hilly double run days last weekend in Exmoor on the challenging coastal terrain, I had high expectations for the weekend ahead.

My partner from Transalpine in September (Chris Jenkins) was also running.  He had made his excuses claiming to be woefully under-prepared and had also mentioned a slight knee niggle over the last few weeks,  He had rested and wanted to see how it went on day 1, hoping for the best but expecting the worst.

We all set off together in the 9am 'runners' start as opposed to the 8am 'walkers' or 10am 'elite runners' start.  I knew we would be fast enough to start in the 10am group, but it was good to get off and finish a little earlier (I had my eye on the big crash mat at gym Oli and I had bagsied last time we raced).  I suggested to Chris and Lotte we get to the front of the pack to get onto the narrow sections of trail ahead of the majority of runners so that we could go at our own pace.  Its amazing how much you can get held up running behind people you think are running at your pace.

I decided to carry the route card just in case but was confident enough to know where I was going from memory.  Sadly it turned into a bit of a runner's tour as soon enough 8-10 runners had latched onto our group expectantly waiting for the next turns where the route wasn't that clear.  I can't say I overly enjoyed running in a large group, but it was interesting to see how people will hold onto a pace, even if it wasn't right for them.  The running was good, with the trail frozen underfoot - it was relatively fast going.

After about 20 miles, the group started to thin out considerably as perhaps the pace was too high for some.  Just as we reached the top of box hill, Lotte mentioned that her knee was causing her some problems. About a 7/10 on the pain scale. She reluctantly soldiered on though, torn between stopping and having to wait for an age to get a lift to the finish and finishing and maybe doing more damage than necessary.  Chris and I stayed with her, and she held a good pace despite the discomfort. One of two displays of Carritt-hardiness this weekend.  When you run a long way, it is sometimes difficult to tell what is an injury and what is your body just telling you that it thinks you are an idiot. I think no matter how much you do, running a long way will inevitably ache.  You may think those elites aren't hurting, but I bet they are, they just happen to be going faster.

After we passed the last checkpoint with 3 miles more or less downhill to go, Lotte began to focus on the end (or perhaps everything started to hurt more so as to balance the pain) and her knee didn't seem to be bothering her so much, we held a good pace in to the finish 5.28.  About ten minutes quicker than when I had run it a couple of years ago (although that year I had been a little delayed by mis-navigation).  This was however good enough to put us about 30th out of 180 odd runners and Lotte 4th lady (I think).  As the running was over, she immediately cheered up too (not that she was grumpy at all).  Personally I had felt quite tight and cold most of the day, never really finding much flow and was glad for it to be over.

We all showered and Lotte and I got a quick massage before heading to the pub to watch the Rugby with Chris.  We were going to head back to the school for the main dinner, but settled on the 'fancy' dinner away from the busier canteen.  The real ales, steak and quiet bar unfortunately proved a little too appealing - and before I knew it we were walking back through the snow, 4 pints of Doombar happier.  Perhaps slightly merry, I still then tucked into the pasta dinner at the school and some apple crumble as we listened to James Adams talk about how he had run across America last summer - inspiring stuff.

I awoke after not a very good nights sleep.  Certainly not made any better by the 4 pints - not the best recovery tactic. The snow was much deeper than I had thought.  Just in case any of you haven't seen enough crappy pictures of snow, here is one Lotte took on race morning.  We were in the 'late' start initially at 9am. But due to the weather they decided on an 8am mass start and announced the fact as we leisurely strolled back from breakfast at about 7.35am.  Giving us about 25 mins to pack up and get ready.

This time with the snowy conditions I suggested it was even more important to get to the front at the beginning, since the compacted snow would get even more slippy underfoot.  Sadly however after no more than 200 yards, Lotte straight away mentioned that her knee was causing undeniable problems.  I offered to pull out with her (still somewhat apathetic and groggy-headed to the day ahead).  She however declined and walked back to the start alone.  Difficult, but certainly the right decision - which as I have mentioned before in relation to Chris' withdrawal from Transalpine, I believe is often the braver one to make. "Any fool can suffer".

Chris and I then pressed on now almost at the back of the field.   For the first three uphill miles, it was at times tricky to pass the slow train of runners gingerly making their way up the single tracks through the snow.  Soon enough however we had fully warmed up and I started to feel good. I had none of the tightness from the day before and I was starting to enjoy myself. Chris tagged on well, just behind me for the majority of our way along the single tracks to the first checkpoint.  Most of the checkpoints had been moved to the more accessible main roads, obviously hampered by the snow.  The first one, frustratingly had been moved about half a mile down the road, forcing you to do an out and back to get to it.  I was however glad to see a couple of runners I knew who had about 15-30 mins on us from the first day just a couple of minutes ahead.  One of whom was wearing some Hoka's.  We settled into a good rhythm and I enjoyed following their characteristic foot prints through the snow.  Despite feeling quite sick for most of the morning (the porridge hadn't agreed with me - or was that the Doombar?) I was confident we could make a time not much more than 30 mins slower than day 1.

It was suprisingly warm thanks to the cloud cover, and slowly the snow around us began to melt leading to random and large clumps of snow to fall from the trees above. Most of the paths were tricky to negotiate with the weight of the snow dragging the branches well down across the paths.  The increasingly slushy snow seemed to be taking its toll on everyone one - it was hard-going, if not beautiful running.

Sadly by around mile 20 Chris mentioned that his knee concern was getting a little achey.  We still carried our momentum until with about 9 or so miles left he suddenly dropped off behind on some runnable descents.  I waited and it was clear he was in a bit of trouble.  I was quite frustrated as I was starting to feel really strong and we were reeling people in up ahead.  We discussed me going it alone, and as much as I wanted to just run off, whats the point in running 60 miles with someone and leaving them just at the end?  I stuck with Chris but we were reduced to a walk on all the uphills. Chris was also visibly frustrated, but determined to finish.  With only 1 checkpoint left, it was going to be faster to walk it in than him wait at the checkpoint for recovery so we trudged on.  With all chance of a 'good' time out the window, it was hard to find a rhythm or the motivation to keep working.

Slowly the miles passed and eventually we came in around 6.38. Probably losing close to 30-40 minutes with all the hobbling.  I still enjoyed the day, and the chance to run in the snow.   Taking the positives, it even provided the odd 'polar-flashback' and a nice sense of perspective.  Of course the delay offered the usual bonus of some extra 'time on feet' too.

Last night I decided on a much more sensible recovery protocol - wine coolers on the feet!

Round Rotheram 50

I can't even remember when I entered Round Rotheram, but I think it was during a misguided moment  after Transalpine.  In fact, on checking the credit card statement it would appear it was about a week after, but for only £13, what could possibly go wrong?

I had heard some, let's call them 'mixed' reviews about the race, but I guess I was really persuaded by the idea that it was a friend's (Titan PT, Paul W) first ultra attempt, and another club member (old smelly little Kev) was already going up to support - safety in numbers.  Describing it as a friend's 'first ultra attempt' is actually a bit misleading, in his first season of proper triathlon he's already completed the mammoth task of completing three iron-distance events.  Not feeling that this was enough to be able to call himself an real 'endurance athlete', he wanted to top the season off with a 50 miler, in under 11 hours, and in doing so fulfill the requirements to enter the lottery for the famous Western States 100-miler in California.

Paul had mentioned it in passing at the pub one night after swimming and for me, there is something I find quite amusing about sitting in a pub and the conversation that effectively unfolding as follows:

"So, what's next after the Ironman Triology?"
"I'm going to run 50 miles, so I can run 100 miles somewhere else"
"Oh right ok..."
"Where are you going to run the 50?"
"Round Rotheram, wanna join me?"
"Ha.......no........ok.........maybe, go on then."

I was collected at about 3pm on Friday afternoon by Paul, Kev and Sarah B, as we were hoping to miss rush hour and make a relatively painless journey up the M1.  Things had obviously gone excellently as we arrived at the Park Inn Rotheram probably closer to 8pm than any of us would have imagined.   My attempts to convince everyone to plump for the cheaper (£4) option of sleeping of the sports hall floor had failed miserably, and so I was determined to enjoy the lavish hospitality.   We went straight for dinner, and I went for a portobello mushroom burger with fat chips and two pints of Guinness.  Paul had obviously left his testicles in London as he sipped white wine (with his pinky raised), but marginally redeemed himself by ordering a Barnsley chop.  For dessert, I had an ice cream cookie sandwich - obviously.

After heading up to the room, I managed about 6 hours interrupted sleep before a 5.15 alarm call.  I think Kev managed about 6 minutes sleep, but he seemed to be looking forward to the day ahead. I forced down (still full from the night before) a portion of apple sauce with whey protein and custard, and 2 pots of rice pudding.  After a coffee,  we made the short drive to the sports centre in time to see the early starters head off along the road.

Having been a clear night it was fairly brisk, and I was happy to get running.  Having not run at all since Jogshop 20 last week, the plan was just to take it nice and steady to start.  I ran with Paul chatting away, and soon enough the first 17km were over.  Although cold initially, it was probably close to a perfect day for running.

In fact, the first 40km passed in what seemed like almost no time at all - I guess time flies when you are having fun! After a good feed and refilling our water, we moved away from the half way point with around 5 hours on the clock.  Paul Thompson, fresh from racing (and not doing too badly) in a double ironman out in Virgina only a week ago was waiting for us, although he did admit to 'noticing some fatigue' at this point ;-)

As time wore on, it was apparent that Paul W was starting find things tough. Paul T described it well with the question "Are you entering new territory Paul?" "Yes" was the response.   It was frustrating, I wanted to help Paul, but knew there was nothing I could do except keep encouraging him as best I could.  I reminisced about my first ultra a couple of years ago in the Brecon Beacons.  Everything hurt, at only half way I thought I couldn't go on. In so many ways it was utter misery, but I also very clearly remember that when I felt like that, I couldn't possibly imagine that anyone else knew what it was like for - what ever they'd been through, this was worse, no matter what they said.  To be fair to  Paul W though, he didn't even moan, he just got on with it. I'm pretty sure I whinged all the way round.   It also turns out that Paul T raced that year of the Brecon Beacons - small world.

With Paul W valiantly battling his own demons, I spent time discussing Paul T's experiences of his double and triple Ironman's and the tricks the mind can play on you during endurance events.  To me it was fascinating, and I was having a great time.  Good weather and good company.  Rotheram was even pulling out its big guns, as we made our way past the ruins of the 12th Century Roche Abbey.  This was a noticeable improvement on the highlight of the first half of the race - the water/sewage  treatment works near Elsecar.  On reflection, the majority of the first 20km smelled like $h1t, and its probably unfair to blame that entire stretch on just the water treatment works.

Sadly however, time was marching inevitably onward and the 11 hour target was beginning to look in danger.  We came out of the second to last aid station where we were told there were 12 miles remaining - we had 2 hours 15 to do it.

We soldiered on and as the 10 hour mark approached, my feet were starting to feel decidedly achey.   The closer we got to the finish, the more it was becoming apparent how seriously close it would be at the current pace.  Paul did great to keep running, and was just stuck at turning his legs over across the variety of terrain.  The trouble is with races like these is that there is no guarantee that they aren't slightly long or short, having also got a little lost earlier on, we had certainly removed any possibility of being able to make it if we went wrong again.  I had the map - the pressure was on.

We got into the last aid station with I think about 10.27 on the clock, grabbed a final bit of fuel and moved straight on.  They said 3 miles to go, and although it felt like we were still a little over 10 min miles, I felt that we could do it.  Paul was obviously committed to giving it a go, and we pushed on.  We got onto a small canal section with perhaps a a little over 3km to go and I stopped to adjust the number on my shorts - the safety pin uncomfortably rubbing, and also to take a photo - I was confident I could catch up.  I couldn't have stopped for 30 seconds and set off quickly to catch them.

After nearly a minute of solid running I was only just gaining on them, some-one had pushed the 'go button' on Mr. W and he was really kicking on.  As I rounded a corner and finally had them in range, they ran past the next turning, I shouted and they swiftly turned around having gone about 20 yards too far and once again we were together again.  I was leading as we rand in a tight 3, and Paul W asked me to up the pace, I edged on, "faster...." ok. I was genuinely running towards the upper edge of what I felt I could manage, and loving it.... Here we go I thought.

There were lots of turnings on the map, and an entire column of directions was assigned to the last kilometre or so - this was pressure map reading at its worst.  We were mowing down people ahead of us, and Paul T even began to linger at the back.  Paul W was running like a man possessed.

In the end we came painfully close, and finished just 1 minute and 25 seconds over the 11 hour mark. A true sign of character though, is that Paul didn't stop sprinting those last 2-3km even though he perhaps may have known that he was just outside the time he was aiming for.  He said earlier the day that he wanted to finish strong - and that he certainly did.  As the time was read out, I was gutted for him, for to put yourself through that to miss out by so little is almost comical in its absurdity.   I really hope that in time Paul will look back on the day fondly, and not with obvious disappointment he showed immediately after.  To complete a 50 mile run is something to be proud of regardless of the time.  When you take into account that it was his first attempt at the distance, his endurance career to date and the season he has had so far, its easy to lose sight of the achievement.  It may not have been the desired outcome, but the performance was in no way lacking.

After the finish, as the adrenaline began to wear off, we all got showered and changed, hobbled slowly to the car and we began the journey home - not without a stop off for a KFC, which barely touched the sides.

I feel surprisingly good this morning, with no excessive soreness/tightness, but thats not to say I'm 100%, and I certainly enjoyed a massive bacon and egg sandwich whilst watching the rugby this morning.  However, I feel this may be different story tomorrow morning, gotta love the 2 day DOMS ;-)

A big thanks to Sarah B for the support at the aid stations and driving us home.  Although she did desert us at a couple of aid stations to head off on some girly lunch date?!?!? (which if you ask me I'd estimate this probably cost us about 1 minute and 26 seconds (at least!) in logistical faff),  it was great to have the extra support.....

Until the next time!!

Anglesey Coastal Trail Series Marathon 22nd January 2011

  Having managed to negotiate the Christmas and New Year break with a surprising (for me) amount of discipline with regard to diet and my training, this race was preceded by a week of thoroughly enjoyable, yet non-specific, Arctic Survival training skills with the boys in Norway.

I had been feeling fairly strong the week before that running consistently having come off a few days down in Exmoor with Lotte staying at the Blue Ball Inn (I cannot recommend this place enough – if you are looking for accom for the Exmoor race – this is the place, on the course and incredibly hospitable, great food and great atmosphere). Our time had been spent on long walks and runs on the trails that make up and surround the Exmoor marathon course, so my holiday training in that respect couldn’t have been better - it’s a real shame I won’t be around for Exmoor this year – it’s a fantastically challenging and beautiful course, I guess I’ll have to settle for the bleak Arctic tundra ;-)

After the week of training in Norway however, I’d felt somewhat sluggish on my runs, and so little was left to do but to hope that I’d find some semblance of form come the race.

With Oli deciding to recover fully from his injury at Gower (very sensible) it was down to Jay and I to fly the Team Arktix flag in Anglesey. We set off lunchtime on Friday for the long drive up, and camped about 10 minutes from the race start. We caught up with Jack Wilkinson, a member of Team Pole Position, (also racing to the North Pole this April) and went for some food in a nearby pub.  After a glass of whisky in the tent before bed we all camped down for the night.    Despite a decent frost on the car Saturday morning, we had been more than a little toasty in our nanok sleeping bags and tent.   Our gear, whilst perfect for Arctic conditions, and good practice in terms of personal admin to keep using, can only be described as overkill for Anglesey on a balmy January evening.

With ruthless efficiency we pulled pole, and drove over to the race start.  Jay set off in the early wave leaving Jack and I to pass time in the car before the main start (unfortunately, we had finished all the whisky the night before).

It was good to see a couple of familiar faces from the Transalpine on the start line, and after the usual safety briefing, without delay, we were off.

I set off at a relatively decent pace, wanting to get a little ahead of the game before the course broke off into more technical trails.  Up to the first checkpoint the course was fantastic – slippery rock and uneven winding paths – just my kind of trail! I normally set off fast, settle down and then push towards the end, and so was not surprised to see 4 or 5 pass me over the next 10 or so miles.

A picturesque run that hugs the coastline for the first 15 or so miles before an inland loop, I would have preferred slightly hillier terrain but was feeling relatively comfortable.

Just after half way I caught up with Jay on about 2 hours.  He had had a fall, but judging by how long it had taken me to catch him, I knew he must have been going well.  He seemed in high spirits and so I moved on, just as Iona (to her surprise leading the women’s field by about 30seconds or so) came alongside.

We chatted for a while and I managed to hang with her for about 30 or so minutes.  Her pace was fractionally too much for me (not to my surprise), and so she pulled away.

I had focused quite intently on getting my food in during this race, normally only taking on a handful of jelly beans and a biscuit at each aid station and a gel towards the end, I had meticulously been taking on a gel every 40-45 minutes.  Despite the increased energy levels, the flatter terrain in the midsection had taken its toll and I was beginning to tighten up.   Time passed quickly and before I knew it ,I was approaching the end facing a steep and prolonged climb inside the last mile.

Great! Finally some of the hills I’d been hoping for!  I knew it was just a short descent to the finish, and was looking forward to using my descending ability to good effect and pick off a couple of places in the final half mile.  I pushed on up the hill, but started to feel uncharacteristically tight in my calves.  I’ve never suffered from full on cramping in my calves and so just kind of hoped it wouldn’t happen.   Over the top, and Wham! It felt like someone had taken a baseball bat to my legs.  I actually started to laugh, thinking how ridiculous I must have looked, hobbling along, not making it more than a couple of paces at a time before they ceased up again.  I tried to curb my laughter as there were some actually quite precarious sections on the descent, and didn’t want to turn this disappointing finish into a DNF!  Down the flatter last section that I’d normally fly down I continued to hobble and lost yet another place, getting some quite patronising yet well intentioned encouragement from a runner of the half I’d overtaken on the ascent!

With little more to do than limp home and hope that I didn’t lose any more places I finished in 21^st place and 4 hours 21.   Well done to Jay who ran sub 6 for the first time on a CTS course, a fantastic effort.  To Jack, a superb first marathon, only 19 and finishing strong not far behind me! Of course congrats to Iona for winning the ladies and Gareth for 3^rd in a competitive men’s field!

Despite small set backs in consistency, my running is continually improving and as ever I look forward to the next CTS race and catching up with you all again! South Devon Ultra next up, see you there!

Dorset, Somerset & the Gower Peninsula 16th October - 13th November 2010

So yet again, I’ve let the blogging slip, with uni work, attempting to earn some money and generally asking people for money for Polar Challenge everywhere I go, its not surprising, but still inexcusable.  I look forward to settling the polar payments (however it needs to be done) and getting down to some serious Polar specific training.

In a way, having fallen behind on the blogging will spare you my usual verbosity as I try to spin out an entire blog for a single event when I could do it in a fraction of that.
Three events to catch up and those are:

• Dorset Coastal Trail Series Marathon - 16^th October
• Exmoor Beast Sportive - 31^st October
• Gower Coastal Trail Series Marathon - 13^th November

Dorset


After the disappointment of a DNF at the Isle of Wight, I was looking forward to being fit and ready to do justice to an Endurance Life event.  The usual routine of dinner at home, then rolling out late on a Friday night missing rush hour is such a familiar feeling now- to me it now works as a trigger the start of my preparation for these races.  Lotte and I headed down to her mum’s house in Taunton as a night-time stop over – to be joined by Jay and Oli a little later.  With the excitement building and the usual store of mum’s homemade flapjacks slowly digesting I’d been told this was one of the tougher races in the series. 
Once again we were greeted with a fresh clear morning and generally stunning conditions for running – I enjoyed catching up with some of the familiar faces at these events and it was time to get going.

It was a tough start along the beach with uneven rocks interspersed between the sand. I focussed on efficient running and keeping my HR down in the earlier stages of the race, walking the hills and making up my time on the descents.
After about 13 miles a competitor behind me fell and cut his eyebrow. With no first aid kit of his own, I offered him some antibacterial wipes which helped him to clean the wounds out, it had stopped bleeding and after running with him and asking some questions about whether he felt concussed (I’m certainly no doctor)  I pushed on. Unfortunately we had lost contact with a group of people I’d been running with at the time.

After the second checkpoint, I made a move to pick up the pace, well let’s say increase RPE. Despite doing so I was passed by a couple of runners a few miles further down the road. Hmm. It was starting to get warm and I rolled my long sleeved thermal up as I hit the second beach section, dangerously reminiscent of  Portland, the delights of which I look forward to reliving in 3 weeks time!
After the final checkpoint with about 4 or 5 miles to go I started to run the uphill’s and really push the pace on the descents and caught 5 more competitors. I finished in about 4.40 in 19^th place and had a great run. – just a shame I had to stop for the injured runner, although I hope someone would do the same for me!

The Exmoor Beast


This nice ‘little’ sportive followed the same usual routine except it was a Sunday event, and once again Lotte and I , having watched Saracens put on a poor display at home to Exeter drove down Saturday evening to her mum’s house in Taunton for the night before.

The weather forecast was atrocious and I was ‘looking forward’ to rolling out of Butlins, Minehead for 3000m of ascent across the 100 mile course.  Having wrapped up warm, it was surprisingly hot, and about 2 miles down the road, I was roasting, yet at least it wasn’t raining.  After stopping to undress somewhat, first up was Porlock hill.  For some reason there were already people walking, and although it certainly was slippery with the leaves, and the cattle grid on a particularly steep section I ground it out in my bottom gear, trying to remain seated and keeping my weight over the back wheel to stop it slipping.
From a brief glance at the map I thought we were going all the way over Dunkery Beacon, a hill that almost was the end of me 250 or so miles into the Tour of Wessex.  I held back, but the route suddenly dropped away from the misty summit of the Beacon. What a relief! Although I was quite looking forward to the destruction it would have caused!

I kept holding back and kept eating at the feed stops, knowing that the course finished with a loop of the 70.3 course. Having not ridden properly for many months, I knew I wouldn’t have the cycling endurance, but with my legs still strong from hours of running at the Transalpine, I hoped I’d maintain some sort of strength to the end.

I got a puncture as we passed through Dulverton, dangerously close to a coffee shop that served an awesome carrot cake & ice-cream that I had stopped off at with Lordy on a ride out here at the end of August. Unfortunately it was far from open, or as sunny as back then.  For many hours now it had been misty, foggy, and windy and rainy all in one. Truly miserable weather. Fortunately it wasn’t cold.
We got going again and stopped for a final feed stop at the start of the loop of the 70.3 course. After another munch, we pushed on and just at the end of the difficult section of the loop I looked around and Lotte had her head on her handlebars, bit of a weave going on there too. After she stopped and had some more flapjack, we pushed on and I towed her and a few other passengers along the faster flat section at the top of the loop. As we turned right, with about 9 miles to go, began a HUUUUUGE descent that had my hands aching and my breaks wearing!

Not long after we were back in after 8.15 hours cumulative time, which with feed stops and punctures was probably closer to 7.15.   A very tough route, but great fun. I’d certainly like to give it a go on a nicer day!


Gower


Same as usual, after a feed on Friday night, Lotte and I embarked from casa del Bruce loaded up with flapjacks and this time an Irish companion in the form of Naomi.   Unfortunately Jay was kept back by work over the weekend since they had a bit of a rush on, which was a real shame.  We arrived at the cottage in Gower at about 10.30pm and after a quick hello to the fellow Tri-London and other lodgers of the cottage it was straight to bed.

I was down to run the ultra and after registration collected my new skins a400 compression top and tights from Oli kindly supplied to us by Skins (@skinsiders).  The weather had reportedly been atrocious all week even described as ‘biblical’ by some of the race organisers.   Yet it seemed to have cleared up on the day. Not having seen a forecast and not trusting the weather to hold out, I thought I would take the opportunity to test out some new kit, and chucked on the long sleeve top – very snug and comfy!!

Anyway, the race kicked off and almost immediately my legs felt tired.  I had gone for a couple of runs earlier in the week with my Vibrams and my calves had been aching for a few days after.   I’m not sure if this was contributing to that at all – they didn’t feel good though.

Maintaining a reasonable pace, my new inov8 mudrocs were however doing the trick in boggy conditions - a must have for the muddier races!

After the second beach section (a bit of a theme with the CTS races) my mind really wasn’t in the race at all. I think it was at some point around here I decided not to run the full ultra. A decision largely based on enjoyment more than anything else.  I like to think I run for enjoyment, I had run the day thus far and had a great time and I didn’t think I would enjoy the extra 10/12km so I called it a day. Simples.  I came in on 5.04 for a 46km marathon – slightly disappointed not to go sub 5, but it was still good for an effective 19^th place in the marathon, and I believe I easily had 15 mins in me having been pacing for an ultra.

I was also feeling particularly tight across my hips towards the end, and so I think it was a right decision. Avoiding injury in the run up to Polar Challenge is now also a real priority and with Oli unfortunately picking up a nasty strain in his foot I’m glad I didn’t run on (not that I could possibly say I would or wouldn’t have got injured had I continued) – but hopefully you get the point – y’know…wouldn’t want to overdo it!  Just in case later that evening I whipped on the compression tights, which in comparison to my 2XUs are just as good compression wise, and certainly more comfortable.

That said, the next day, having only run the marathon I was keen to get out and go for a short run to help build some endurance but to me what I felt was without the same injury risk, having had the chance to recover. I went for a damp yet ultimately enjoyable 10km jog around the moorland surrounding the cottage and delightful ‘Swansea Airport’.  I felt strong, no sign of tightness, and very much enjoyed that run too – I don’t know if the same could have been said for the 10km loop for the ultra add on!  Another great race – thanks @endurancelife!!

Isle of Wight Coastal Trail Series Marathon 25th September 2010

So last Friday I found myself driving down to the IOW through evening rush-hour traffic (don’t ask why) for what turned out to be a bit of a mammoth journey (I think I got to South Devon faster).

Situated in a nice house in West Cowes, it was only a 25-minute drive to the race start the following morning.  My approach in hindsight was more than a little blasé.

The weather was bright, clear and fresh – perfect conditions.  I hadn’t run more than 10 yards over the past two weeks, and was hoping that my groin would hold up.  There was a small (in comparison to other CTS events) marathon field, but considering what was essentially a trail running boot camp in the form of Transalpine under my belt, I was confident of a top 10 and with any luck top 5 finish.

I set off at what I thought to be a reasonable pace down the first hill – all that practice running downhill made this feel very easy, and I was surprisingly straight into the lead (bar the 3 early starters).  At no point did I feel I was running at a pace faster than I would normally go in a marathon but after about half a mile, my HR was unusually high. High 180s which is WAY above my anaerobic threshold of 168.

I ignored it temporarily and tried to relax, and was happy to let a group of 3 come past me and disappear into the distance.  As I made my way along the coastline, it was pretty flat.  FLAT?!!? I wanted hills to show of my new legs of steel.

My HR remained unusually high, and so I then resorted to walking up the steeper portions (although all completely runnable) in a bid to get it under control. Nothing.

I approached the first checkpoint and then took my time to eat a little thinking that if my HR is going to stay this high I’m probably going to need more food than normal.   I scoffed a cliff bar and some cola bottles (only 4.8 miles in at this point) and leisurely made my way to the top of the first climb.  I knew I’d have enough endurance to stay strong to the end, and so wasn’t worried about the few that overtook on this section.  At that moment my priority was trying to relax.  Even so, I probably should have just followed the signs instead of the people ahead and went about 2 minutes across and down a field the wrong way.
Oli who had started late, had caught up by this point and seen the correct sign, and shouted ‘Andy!!!! What are you doing?!?!’

Having realised the mistake, I and the other runners who had ventured off course turned around to see a steady stream of runners overtake as we made our way back across the field, up the hill, into the wind. (great!)

After a small flat section there was a downhill stretch, shallow enough to be easy to negotiate and steep enough to really fly down. Perfect, a chance to really test out my new descending ability.  I bombed it and flew past everyone who had just overtaken, it was a great feeling.  I then had Oli fifty or so yards up the road in my targets, he was casually running with another Tri-Londoner (sorry Dan).

Anyway, just as I spotted them we reached another slight incline.  The descent had distracted me from my HR and it was speeding up to well over threshold again, time to reign it back in.

By this point, (about an hour in) I was beginning to get frustrated – it should have settled down by now – this definitely wasn’t normal.  I slowed again allowing some to re-overtake, but then got stuck behind them on a single path descent.

Having completed the first, smaller loop of the marathon course, we then began to make our way along the coastline out towards the needles.  The sun glinted off the calm channel – it really was perfect weather for running a coastal marathon.
It was truly a shame that by then, at only the second checkpoint I had more or less decided to call it a day.  I had started to jog slowly, then walk, but nothing was bringing my hr below 165, which is more or less my threshold. Something really wasn’t right and I was worried of making myself unwell in the days to come by carrying on.

I stopped at the checkpoint and sat down for a while, and when it took more than 10 minutes to get my HR below 120 (resting HR usually 42) I knew it was time to call it a day.

With Jay unwell also, it was a bad start to the day for the Team Arktix boys, but thankfully, as predicted, Oli flew the flag and came home second by a couple of minutes or so – if only he’d turned up on time.

Hopefully this weekend, and our first Polar Challenge training event as a team, we can put on a better show than I mustered last Saturday!
 
Thanks to Christophe DeMoulin (winner of the half) for the pics!

Results here.

Bring on Dorset!