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Sunday, May 23, 2010

Essential tip for planning a BBQ

If you want to know when it'll be good weather again just ask Krysia when she's doing her next endurance event - first the Paris Marathon and now the Crystal Palace triathlon - both on scorching hot sunny days!

It certainly worked for our friends - we're off to Teddington for a BBQ!

Triathlon debut!

The day started early (which wasn't a bad thing as the forecast for later was 25 degrees), with a 5 mile cycle to the event (with a killer uphill at the end).

Once there the nerves then started to kick in as I really didn't have a clue of what I needed to be doing. After finding registration and talking nervously with other first timers, I then parked my bike in the transition area and watched as the pros lined up their kit getting as many tips as possible.

Then it was off to the pool - sitting at the waters edge, I managed to distract myself by talking to fellow competitors (everyone seemed very friendly). Once in the pool 50m (one length, of 15 to do - eeek) looked a long way. Doing breast stroke I was worried I would be overtaken by everyone behind me, but I even managed to pass a few other swimmers. Feeling that I had held my own it was with wobbly legs that I headed off to transition.

Trying to put a vest over wet swim wear isn't easy and I lost a minute having to re-pin my numbers on. Tip to others, invest in a tri belt as it saves you valuable time and faffing! I had been warned that the first thing you face on the bike is a steep hill, however knowing that didn't make it any easier to climb (9 times in total). The cylce route was up hill for the first 3rd and then downhill the rest of the way and was enjoyable. I just hope I managed the right number of laps as at the end I ended up talking to one of my new found triathlon buddies and he had done 10 laps!



Getting off the bike and into a run was much harder than anticipated. My legs felt really strange running, and the 5k (also with the same steep hill twice) felt really really slow. I never thought a 5k could be so difficult.


Finishing in the stadium with an announcer calling (or trying to call) your name was a nice touch. I even got a spot prize of a swimming hat at the end on top of a medal and a nice t-shirt!

Thanks to Martin (esp. after working a night shift and 2 hours of sleep) for his support on the course - cheering me on really helped :-)

YEAH I've completed my first triathlon - another......... we'll have to wait and see!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Race for life marshals

Sat July 31st Clapham Common - volunteers sign up by e-mail please. It will be an early start - first event (10k) 9:00am briefing around 7:30. Free by 12:30 latest - earlier for some.

My Clapham Runners tee shirt went to ???? and all I got was this bloody picture.

Your tee short can win prizes.

Wear your Clapham Runners tee shirt with pride to exotic, challenging, strange, new or far flung places. Submit a picture to win exotic tee shirt person of the day award

Monday, May 17, 2010

Paris marathon!

Here's a pic of 2 happy Clapham Runners who finished the paris marathon in under 4 hours - woo hoo!! Amazing that we ran into each other at the finish line in a crowd of about 38,000 runners!

Mudrunner Oblivion!!!



Here are some pics of me sludging through the mud and completing an obstacle in ''mudrunner oblivion''!! It was an epic 10km race in Eastnor that involved running UPHILL (!!), through DEEP mud puddles and completing various obstacles along the course! Hehehe, it was good not-so-clean fun!! See u at training:-) Fi

Janie in Washington

Well done to Janie for her 5km in Washington - completed in 28 minutes in 30 degree heat and 100% humidity (don't think I would have fancied that!). Janie's team (family and friends from over the world) raised over $7,000 for brain cancer research.

More info on the race can be found at http://www.principessaisabella.blogspot.com/.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Free yoghurt and fun in Shropshire

The Muller 10km in Market Drayton in Shropshire was my first race actually wearing my Clapham Runners shirt. I took both the long sleeved and the short sleeved ones to Shropshire because I was determined to wear our colours in a race and I didn't know what the weather would be like. It was actually a short sleeved day. This was better news for wouldbe barbequers that it was for me. I haven't done much training in the sun. Admittedly, since the weather has got a bit better, my training outside of the Thursday sessions has been somewhat patchy. Still, as the race was organised by Muller I'd probably get a free yoghurt at the end and so it wasn't going to be all bad!

The race started and ended in a school field. Rachel, the friend I went to the race with, said it reminded her of a school sports day. Whenever I ran in school sports day I usually came pretty close to last and so I sincerely hoped that history wouldn't repeat itself completely. Lining up at the start, Rachel and I spotted two blokes who were going to run three-legged. The fact that they weren't expecting this to be easy was indicated by their decision to wear crash helmets. I think we both thought it would be embarrassing to be overtaken by them.

The start of the race could have been staggered slightly better as there was a bit of a bottleneck when we were trying to leave the school field. Once out on the open road though, the signs were clear and there were lots of marshals. There were also a fair number of supporters, which was excellent for me with my name printed on my top. The first km seemed to go pretty fast. Unfortunately, the first km was downhill and in a cyclical race, what goes down must come up. The uphill bits seemed longer than the downhill bits. I definitely struggled a bit.

At 5km we went round the Muller dairy. At 6km I saw the three-legged guys. They were coming the other way and had completed about 4km. One of them had lost his crash helmet. At the end I had a few problems getting back onto the school field. Bottle necking wasn't the problem this time (I'm a bit too slow to be for this to really be a problem). A lot of the runners had finished and were getting in my way by leaving the field. I glared at them with their trays of yoghurts, but actually having my eye on the prize did give me an incentive to finish.

Actually, considering the hills and the heat I didn't do too badly. I finished about 2 minutes or so outside my best time over 10km. This isn't that fast, but then I'm not that fast. Within the realms of what I've done before it was pretty ok. That I got away with the time that I did was almost entirely down to the Thursday sessions. Still, I'm sure if I try a bit harder on other days of the week I can get that time down. So I came away today with a feeling that I've got something to work with, with a much greater appreciation for our runners who've done marathons and other races in hotter weather with bigger hills, oh, and with a fair amount of free yoghurt. Not a bad day at all.