What I do all this training for… competing. I love racing. Here you’ll find race reports, results and event reviews.
Goal: race a sub 3:45 marathon so I can put in a good for age entry for the 2020 London Marathon.
I did the training and I was ready. Especially motivated after watching Kipchoge make history the weekend before as the first person to run a sub two-hour marathon. It was incredible watching him run… making a 2:50 min/km pace look easy.
To break 3:45, I’d have to run 42km at a pace of 5:19 min/km. My PB (personal best) at this distance is 3:55 (pace of 5:35 min/km).
The Infinitri Peñíscola half starts and ends in a castle that appears in Game of Thrones… Need I say more?
You run into the beach like you are some sort of warrior and swim around the castle to a neighboring bay. You grab your bike and ride out into the hills. On your way back, the run is along the sunny but flat Peñíscola promenade that eventually brings you back to the castle for a picture perfect finish.
The Infinitri Series is family run. Manu is the Race Director and he has a huge presence on race day. Everything about the event was extremely well organised and accommodating to athletes of all abilities.
This event was particularly special because we were invited to it as two of Tim Don’s guests. And by “we” I mean Dan and Sam did… but Sam couldn’t go so I got to! Leading up to the race I was dealing with an ankle sprain from an embarrassing tequila inspired adventure in Cancun only 6 weeks before. It felt like it took forever to heal… I couldn’t run, I couldn’t kick when I swam – all I could do was ride. So I packed in a lot of time on the bike to build my fitness up. I was so nervous I’d show up to the race and not be able to finish because of it. Sometimes it’s nice to approach a race with no expectations. I ended up having a great race and I walked away from the weekend feeling motivated to train and get fast. I think Tim has that effect on people.
Total time: 5:49:29
Gender Rank: 21/ 58
Overall Rank: 353/ 800
The Ironman. A triathlon of ridiculous proportions. Swim 3.8km, Bike 180km and Run 42.2km.
Leading up to the race I knew I had to take training seriously. I worked towards those distances without really taking a step back to appreciate how far it really is. It’s been over three months since the race, and I have been SO LAZY lately. If I had to race an Ironman in my current condition – I don’t think I’d be able to finish it.
So now, I look back and I am amazed that I did it. 226km in total… Just me, my goggles, my bike, and my runners.
To summarize my experience, I would say it was a long day out and an emotional roller coaster.
The high’s are so high: you see your family cheering you on and you have these realizations that you’re going to do it.
But the low’s are really low: you’re out there on your own with a long stretch of road ahead of you and you think to yourself “why did I sign up for this?”
I cried twice and I barfed once… But to cross the finish line…. well that was the best feeling ever.
Total time: 12:46:02
Age group rank: 36
Gender rank: 182
Overall rank: 978
More on the highs, the lows and the barfing below…
The Outlaw Half, is a middle distance triathlon/ half Ironman distance in Nottingham. For me, the Outlaw Half is a race in preparation for a race – later this Summer I’m racing the full Ironman distance in Mont Tremblant.
A few years ago, a Half Ironman was a terrifying thought… Approaching it for only the second time in my life, and as a “training race” rather than “focus race”, felt strange. When I trained for the Zell em See Half, it was my sole focus for the year… I put all my effort into training and being as ready as I’d ever be to get through the race and perform to my best ability.
This year, I don’t necessarily feel like I put that same amount of focus into my training. I’ve been training don’t get me wrong, but I’ve been doing so with a stressful job that involves a lot of travel and overtime, and with social plans not always taking the backseat. So training isn’t my sole focus… and when training isn’t my sole focus, I don’t feel as confident in myself ahead of a race.
I wasn’t nervous, but I wasn’t confident either… I knew I could get around the course, but I didn’t know how fast… or if I’d be faster than my race in Zell am See. It didn’t help that I was ill for about three weeks leading up to the race either, so though I knew I wanted to approach the race as a fighter, I was also just happy to treat it as a solid block of training and just saying to myself “let’s see what happens”. My mind was all over the place ahead of it all. I figured either way, my competitive self would take over day-of, and that’s pretty much exactly what happened.
Overall, super happy with my race… I felt smarter than the last time I raced this distance, I was comfortable on the TT bike, I learned A LOT in almost every stage of the race, and it was a good kick in the butt to make training a focus for the next 12 weeks so that when Ironman Mont Tremblant comes around, I am excited to race and ready to see what happens!
It was also amazing being able to share this with someone. Jodie and I signed up together, started together and cheered each other on when we crossed paths on the course. It helps a lot seeing a familiar face on the course! I’m glad that Mont Tremblant will be similar as I’ll be racing with Brenna, Alistar and Dan.
Total time: 5:47:03
Age group rank: 12/35
Gender rank: 53/332
My first race in over 10 months! Such a relief to see that my fitness is coming back after only a few months of training. Since December I’ve been focusing on getting back into shape in preparation for Ironman training this year. This race was either going to be a reality check on how unfit I’ve gotten, or an encouraging “pat on the back”. I’m much better with positive reinforcement, so I’m thankful it was the latter!
I totally thought this result was a personal best but my post on the 2016 Kingston Half Marathon has reminded me otherwise… Either way, I’m within seconds of my PB and I’m pretty stoked about it!
THE SUMMARYI signed up for the Brighton Marathon with the intention to train for a “Good for Age” finish time so I could race the London Marathon in 2018. Good for Age is sub 3h 45m in my age group, so that was my target. I finished the Edinburgh Marathon in 2013 with a time of 3:55 so I knew that with some dedicated training, sub 3:45 was within reach.
I built out my training plan and in January I was ready to hit the ground running – literally. Unfortunately in week 2 of training I managed to fall down a set of stairs and sprain my ankle…. I tried walking it off but there was no walking this one off. My ankle took 6 weeks to fully recover. I got running again at the end of February and managed to develop runner’s knee (too much to quick). All this, and I am convinced I can qualify. I knew I was stronger and faster than I was four years ago, and I figured that if my fitness fails me I’d at least have the mental toughness to make it through.
The result? I TOTALLY miss judged how tough a 42km race is. To my surprise (and probably me only), I am disappointed to report back that I didn’t get sub 3:45 as planned. But all things considered, I am actually really happy with this race. Here’s the breakdown…
When I was preparing for the Edinburgh Marathon I lived by my Garmin – I used it on every run and kept track of ALL my stats. I was borderline obsessive about my pace and my progress.
After the marathon, I stopped training for a couple months and by the time I decided to get back into a training regime, it felt like I had lost so much fitness. All of the sudden, I hated my stats. I was slower; it was harder; and it was annoying how quickly I lost fitness after working so hard to build it up. As a result, I started to dread going for runs. Something I loved turned into something I avoided… I quickly realised that if I want to keep running, I needed to leave the watch behind.
There are many benefits to tracking your runs though and I’ve recently tried to get back into the routine of it.
If you’re wondering whether you should start tracking your runs, or if you should step back from obsessing over your running data, check out my list of pros and cons below…
The Monster Triathlon just isn’t my race. Two years in a row… Year 1 – DNS (did not start), Year 2 – DNF (did not finish)…
Last year I came down with the flu a few days before the race and was unable to compete. This year I planned on racing the Monster Triathlon as my main focus race and my last triathlon of the season… There’s nothing worse than dedicating time and effort in training and then ending up with a big fat DNF!
The last time I got a DNF was in rowing when I raced at the Royal Canadian Henley with Becca. We were in the under 25 women’s double final and the collar on my oar wasn’t fastened properly; it slipped right off at the 1250m mark leaving us unable to finish the race; equipment malfunctions are the worst!!
So what happened this time? Well here’s the very short race report and a few silver linings from the experience…
In preparation for the British 10k this year, I wrote a post about setting executable goals. Personally, I was worried that I would approach the race with an expectation to finish faster than last year, and for it to take just as much effort as I recalled it did last year (recalling effort is rarely accurate… a tough race always seems easier in hindsight).
But it turns out this was the least of my worries as there is one crucial thing this year that I didn’t do last year and which I totally underestimated… Crew the Race Across America. I was knackered for about two weeks after RAAM and only started feeling myself again by the weekend of the British 10k. So having an expectation to feel the same during the race as I did last year and finish in the same time or faster was no longer a concern. I do love racing though, so I approached the British 10k last weekend with an open mind and figured it’d be a good test to see how fit I am given the circumstances.
To be honest, I was pleasantly surprised with my result! Only 30 seconds slower than last year I finished with a time of 45:41. I was pleasantly surprised that is, until I saw my potential…
2 weeks, 2 flights, 5 time zones, 3000 miles on the road and countless Red Bull’s crushed… where do I even start? Crewing the Race Across America was an experience unlike anything else.
I thought I set my expectations fairly well going into the race, but there are something’s in life you can’t prepare for without first hand experience… and RAAM is one of those things.
LIVE LOOSLEY 