Kingston Half Marathon Race Report

Let the racing begin! I felt very unprepared for the Kingston Half Marathon last weekend… Signing up for an early season race seemed like a good idea in January but like many, not everything goes to plan January/ February; they’re just tough months!

I have been focusing on keeping active and staying positive, but I haven’t placed focus on training towards any specific goals/races yet.

That being said, I’m glad my January-self thought it’d be a good idea to do an early season race. Had I trained properly, the race itself could have been more enjoyable perhaps (referencing my finish pic below…tough times). Nonetheless, I got a good sense of my fitness and achieved a PB while I was at it!

RACE SUMMARY

Total time: 1:39:43
Place: 281/1144 runners

Posted by allisonloosley

Team RAAMIN4Charity are getting ready to Race Across America!

Race Across America (RAAM) is known for being one of the toughest ultra cycling events in the World. It involves non-stop cycling coast to coast across America. The route is 3,000 miles long with 170,000 ft of climbing; our team is targeting a place on the podium, which means we’re aiming to finish the race in under 6 days.

When I say ‘we’ I mean Dan (@DanielOJello), Phil (@Tobebythesea), Tom (@CERacing) and a fourth cyclist who is yet to be selected. Me and the others… We’ll be driving support vehicles and doing everything else in between.

The group of us have named ourselves RAAMIN 4 CHARITY (@Raamin4Charity) and our website can be found here.

Our nominated charities are Great Ormond Street Hospital given the fantastic care they gave a nephew of one of the riders and Aplastic Anaemia Trust for the research they undertake in trying to better understand this rare blood condition, which one of the teams suffers from.

Posted by allisonloosley

Aquabase HIIT Class #Floatfit

Since Ironman 70.3 Zell am See, I’ve felt a little lost. This was my last race for the year and my main focus for months…. so now what?

It’s such an anticlimax when your ‘big race’ is all of the sudden over. You cross the finish line feeling motivated and excited for the next race, but then there isn’t one… I’ve experienced the same thing with rowing; all of the sudden the season is over and you have time and energy again. If only I knew what to do with it!

Before I jump back into goal setting and training towards something, I think I’ll learn to enjoy this thing called ‘time’ first. My true challenge will be finding a healthy balance without a race to work towards. This Aquaphysical class was the perfect kick start for me.

IT WAS HILARIOUS – a 30 minute HIIT class on water.

We were either laughing, smiling or sticking out our tongue trying to balance for the entire class.

Posted by allisonloosley

Ironman 70.3 Zell am See, Austria

25 weeks ago, I wasn’t feeling very well and decided that it’d be a good idea to scare myself back to good health. I sat down and signed up for Ironman 70.3 Zell am See-Kaprun with the logic that ‘I’d be there anyway [cheering on Dan at World Champs]…. so I might as well race it!’ (this moment was captured on Instagram here).

And the rest is history — after all that training and nervous energy, the race is over and I am officially a finisher of Ironman 70.3 Zell am See-Kaprun!

RACE summary

Total time: 5:50:27
Age group rank: 17/55
Gender rank: 78/500

Posted by allisonloosley

Respect to the Spectator – Watching an Ironman event

Dan and I are off to Austria this Wednesday to race in the beautiful city of Zell am See-Kaprun.

I race the regular 70.3 on Saturday whilst Dan competes in World Champs on Sunday.

Since Dan qualified for Ironman 70.3 World Championships we have: celebrated, he has undergone surgery for shin pain, recovered from surgery, and trained trained trained. Now, the event has finally come around and one week from today he’ll be racing it!

Here is a picture of Dan coming into the finish line last year at his qualifier race (Ironman 70.3 Muskoka).

So for the past four years of Dan’s triathlon career – I’ve been the cheerleader, the carrier of bags, the taker of action photos and everything in between. Spectating any race that lasts greater than a 3/4 hours is a feat in it’s own!

This year I go from spectating to racing and I’m freaking out. I’m good at spectating. In fact, I would say that I’ve mastered it. Racing a 70.3 Ironman race… this is something I’ve never done before. I’m extremely excited but equally nervous.

So let me share something I know I know… Top tips for spectating an Ironman event (Dan – take notes… you’re not the only one racing this time!)

Posted by allisonloosley

Triathlon – Transition tips for beginners

When you’re training for triathlon it’s much easier to feel confident with swimming, biking and running as separate disciplines because that’s what you’ve been practicing. But when a race comes up, putting it all together and sorting yourself out in transition can feel a little foreign.

I have a few friends with their first triathlon coming up – this post is for you!

Here are some tips for the transition area.

Posted by allisonloosley

My First Olympic Distance Triathlon

Bewl water triathlon – 8 aug 2015the Summary

In the middle of no where. A foggy start. My first 1500m open water swim since ‘the episode’. A busy bike course. A hilly run. And one thankful Allison for having some amazing support on race day.

Total Time: 02:45:16

Gender Position: 9 / 51

Category Position: 4 /13

Posted by allisonloosley

British 10k – Running for Charity

This Sunday my colleagues and I will be racing the British 10k in support of Macmillan Cancer Support. A group of us at work have been training since May in preparation for the event.

In previous years, we’d often sign up for 5k charity runs. This year we decided to double our distance! For many in the group, this will be the longest distance they’ve ever run.

I felt slightly responsible for convincing my colleagues to race a 10k so I started a run club at work to get everyone trained up for the race! We train every Monday and it has been amazing seeing individuals improve. I used to coach novice and corporate rowers in University and I forgot how good it feels to pass on knowledge and help others work towards their fitness goals.

We train in a park near work where we are surrounded by green – a good reminder of why we’re doing all this hard work: Macmillan.

With work, training, the blog and MBA Run Club my time often feels stretched… I created the run club as my contribution to the 10k challenge.

If you’d like to support all our efforts and donate towards Macmillan Cancer Support, you can do so at our Just Giving page. All donations gratefully received.

Posted by allisonloosley

Toronto Triathlon Festival

The Toronto Triathlon Festival is a qualifier for Age Group World Championships. To qualify you need to finish top 3 of your age group (mine being F25-29). Even though I knew I’d be punching above my weight trying to qualify, I really wanted to give it an honest effort.

I raced the Hyde Park Sprint Triathlon three weeks prior to the Toronto Triathlon to benchmark my progress, and didn’t get a huge amount of confidence… I finished the race in 1:27 – 2 minutes slower than my first triathlon at Crystal Palace, 10 minutes slower than I was hoping for and I managed to come off my bike at one point.

When I looked at last year’s Toronto Triathlon finish times… the top three times were 1:11, 1:14 and 1:17. My aim became a) finishing in sub 1:17 and b) praying that faster athletes don’t show up to the race – if that happened, I might just qualify!

Well I certainly gave the race a good honest effort. I finished in 1:16, which was my exact target but I ended up 5th in my age group… this year the top three times were 1:09, 1:10. 1:10. I had no chance! Motivation to train train train train – need to get my swim and bike times a few minutes quicker.

Posted by allisonloosley

Today I raced my first open water swim event.

I signed up for the 1500m race, borrowed a wetsuit and made my way to Dorney Lake for the race.

I found out about the Eton Open Water Swim after speaking to a few members of Tri London at the Crystal Palace Triathlon a few weekends back. It seemed like the perfect segue from pool swimming to open water swimming – without having to worry about transitioning, cycling and running after.

I thought I had prepared myself quite well earlier this week by going for a swim in an open air Lido to test out the wetsuit and get familiar with the cold water… well it definitely didn’t hurt but I was still completely and utterly shocked 100m into the race today.

Shocked by… the cold. the compression. the commotion. and the conditions.

Posted by allisonloosley

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