Having also started getting some solid running, 100k atunder 4min k average last week! I thought it was time to commit to some races. My priorities have changed slightly so as disappointed as I am to miss the Castles race I want to go where the best pro field will be and really get out of the comfort zone.

I need to repeat some run base training and conditioning so I want to put back my first long distance event a bit. I’ve got a couple of shorter races in May, June to sharpen up then a few weeks to get in to Ironmanmode before some long races.

The new TriGrandPrix elite series promises to be somethingspecial. They have looked for some really challenging courses and have put together some very good quality pro fields with Eneko Llanos heading the list.

The first race in the outrageous half in Kent on May 30ththen on to Basque country for Zarauts triathlon on 12th June.

I will be heading down to Kent on April 25th fora course preview with Dann Brook and Jose Torres so anyone interested in seeing the course and riding with us should come along. It looks like a real toughie so I’m hoping for a bit of a tactical advantage but it will be a real experience I think. ITU meets Ironman meets formula 1!!!!

I’m hoping to be able to recover and get a couple of big brick sessions in before Challenge Copenhagen on the 15th of August.This is one of the most hotly anticipated races of the year. I can wait to seea city I’ve heard so much about and get stuck in with a great field of ¼athletes. The flat bike course suits my steady power style on the bike,something you should think about when you pick your races.

I’ll just have time to turn around from that before I goback to Challenge Barcelona. I was so frustrated to get a flat there last yearand miss the podium by seconds so I really want to give it everything thisyear. Jordi has pulled them through some of the tough times they had with theold race organisers and will put on a great race so I’m looking forward to itand the Beer festival afterwards!

The problem lies with the users Internet Explore set up. 

The shopping cart can only work by passing information from the entry form to the shopping cart, to do this the computer and internet need to use cookies. 

These cookies gather the information that you have entered and then pass them on to the relevant page, so that you can check out and make the secure payment though paypal. 

If you get the message Shopping Cart Empty you will need to go to your internet settings:

Normally found under - Tools > Internet Options  

You will then need to select the Privacy tab 

You will need to set your cookies option to Medium / High or Lower 

Then Select OK 

This will allow the relevant information to pass to the shopping cart and for you to enter the Castle Challenge 2010 race. 

This payment system is fully secure! Plus no card details are entered through the TRI website. Information that will be passed to the shopping cart will only be the information that you place on the form. 

Hope this helps 

Andy Mac

 

	For sales enquiries please contact  sales@totalracingint.com 07803 926 697
	For general enquiries please contact  info@totalracingint.com
	For Castles Challenge please contact  castleschallenge@totalracingint.com

Why not check out some of the images from the 2009 Castle Challenge Event 

Full results                                                                               

Just a little something to keep the triathlon addicts going till the weekend! I'll come back and add some pictures when I get some. It was a great trip, the Maresme area is a superb location for a race and the organisation was terrific. We never had such a good time at any race I don't think.

Thirty men stand in a line looking out as the sun creeps up over the horizon, waves roll in gently a few feet ahead. Hot air balloons rise above and eyes fix on the twinkling of the light illuminating the first turn buoy. A gun shot sounds and they scramble for the water, falling and diving over one another in to the surf.

I went as fast as I could, concentrate on pulling hard but not hard enough to stay with the leaders as usual but I'm used to this. I knew I could go harder when I caught myself taking in the idyllic Costa Brava sun rise on the return leg but with little time to gain here I stayed on some feet and came out in around 53min less than 2min down on the race favorite, 4 time Ironman France winner and local legend Marcel Zamora.

For the first time I had decided to race, in other words go as hard as I had to to get in contention for a podium. The bike course was fast, undulating in sections but with a lot of flat riding. After the short winding section through the town I put the hammer down and rode the next 40k in about 57min so pretty hard  but approaching the turn I saw the leaders within striking distance. Catching a bunch at around 70k I recognised Xavier LeFloch and Luke Dragstra so I settled down knowing I was with the main group riding at  their pace taking the lead when the speed dropped to much for my liking.

At the 64k turnabout my back wheel slides out and I realise to me dismay my disc wheel has been loosing air. Can I make it through the race without stopping? We plough through the second lap passing a few Brits, one relay rider even joinded us for a while who later on turned out to be tweenster from Tritalk.

It was becoming a struggle to handle the bike on the roundabouts and I would never make it back through the town section in one piece. Over half way now and still riding with the group it breaks my heart but I stop and inspect, it’s soft but not punctured I think, CO2, solid, lets go. But the guys have long gone, my plan had worked and I had put in a great effort to catch them but now it had gone pear shaped. I was by the roadside for less than 2min but my average speed has now dropped from 40.5kph when I caught them to less than 40kph. I put the hammer down again and to my surprise catch Luke after about 15k but he’d fallen off the back of the pack. I settle down realising I probably wont be able to catch the others again and start thinking about the run.

I come off the bike in a group of about 4  that formed close to the end posting a 4:33 bike split. Checking the Garmin I see we’re running 35min 10k pace! Too fast! Slow down let the testosterone junkies do their thing and a 400m gap slowly grows as I settle down to just under 4min k pace but eventually it stopped growing. The run was 4 loops out on the exposed coast road with the sun beating down and the temperature rising above 25oC it would be pacing that would get me in the money I hoped. So as sure as the sea is salty at 20k they all started coming back to me. One by one they were all coming back and I could here the cash register ching as they came past and my confidence grew. Approaching the last 5k I came up to 4th and could see Bernd Eichhorn at the turn less than 800m ahead. At the final turn I was still running strong, just over 4min ks and Bernd is loosing more ground, he can’t be more than a few hundred meters away I thought. The last k is the longest of them all, the markers which would lead you to believe the course was short were wrong, the course was not short so the last k was closer to two. My legs wouldn’t give me a 3min k though and after I took a wrong turn in the transition area section Bernd got a deserved 3rd and I was delighted to jog the finish chute with a Saltire from Jen cheering me on.

An 8:26:35 was great and I was very satisfied to race well when I went as hard on the bike. Felix from Chalenge and a local official were there to greet us crossing the finish and I went for a massage and an alcohol free beer. We spent some time chatting to other athletes and watching some get wheeled past in chairs. Later that night we came back and watched the final finishers who were welcomed by some spectacular if slightly macabre fire dancers and music. The day after it was my first awards ceremony, long and hot but a lot of fun shaking hands with top athletes like Zamora. Everyone seemed to be having a great time, if your not Kona bound this could be the race for you if you want some early winter sun! It’s also worth remembering that they celebrate Oktoberfest in Callela which was a boon for the Scotts. We were there till the wee hours on Monday and for the first time my head is in more pain than my legs 2 days after a big race!

The Peterlee Sprint Triathlon took place this morning, Last race of the season to test the legs and finish on a High.

Before the race had started I had seen the start list and it was their for the taking. The TRI lads were all gunning for the win.

I arrived at Peterlee nice and fresh and looking forward to racing, been a strange week of training as I put a lot of effort into Bala the previous week.

On to the start and I was the last competitor into the water, starting No 151. I felt like I had a good swim but once I saw my time I was still slightly disappointed but I know what I need to improve over the winter.

On to the bike and like I always say my fav discipline, from the off I was going well and I was soon catching the competitors that started before me. Was able to come into T2 with a bike time of 34 minutes 41 seconds, around 1 minute 40 seconds faster than the 2^nd fastest bike time.

My run went well and I set a nice tempo which I managed to maintain throughout, I didn?t want to push to hard on the run tho as the previous week I suffered really bad with a mile to go and I knew I had some time on my side. I finished the run with the second fastest split of 20 minutes 40 sec. So very happy.

I managed to win the Race with a time of: 1 hour 1 minute 40 seconds

2^nd place was team mate Phil C in a time of 1 hour 3 minutes  44 seconds

3^rd was team mate Elliot G in a time of 1 hour 4 minutes 31 seconds

Time to have a rest and think about what I want out of triathlons next year.

Andy Mac x

A cold morning woke me after camping over night for the bala triathlon, and may I say never again. Went with Barker and Smith on the Saturday, and went for a short bike ride and run which loosened up the legs.

Sunday Morning was cold at lake bala and the mist made the start delayed. 728 competitors took part in the event most trying to qualify for the European Championships 2010 in Ireland.

Once the Mist lifted it was perfect conditions for the race I came out of the water in 73rd position from my wave and was disappointed with my 24 minutes swim time.  

The bike was a undulating out and back loop, with a slight tail wind going out and a head wind on the return leg. I managed to get my leg turning at a good pace and rhythm. I managed to enter Transitions 2  in 24th. After putting a bike time in of 56 minutes 41 seconds matching the top athletes.

The run followed the lake and was slightly over 10km I think I set off abit to quick as with 2 miles to go I began to suffer and I faded on the pace towards the end. The event was race excellent and their was good support from the local villages, its always nice to cycle and run on closed roads. 

I managed to take the 1st Qualification spot for my age group (20-24) and came 2nd overall in my Age Group. Which means I have qualified for the 2010 European Championships which will be held in Athlon Ireland. Where my aim is top finish top 3 in age group. 

I came 19th overall out of 728 starters 

My times where:

1500 meters Swim: 24:42 (104th fastest)

40km bike: 56:41 (9th Fastest) 

10.5km: 37:32 (18th fastest)

Overall Time: 2:00:25

The winner was Pro athlete Dann Brook from team Activinstinct.

Time: 1:51:37

Andy Mac x

I have really wanted to race again this year and the organisers at Challenege Barcellona have made that possible for me. I think they have a great team and are tackling drafting head on. They DQ’d over 250 athletes at their May event and have pulled marshals from across Spain so chancers beware! Check out the site and make sure you have the sound turned on because they have made there own euro rock theme song.

I pull out the stops when I've got a big race coming and the last couple of weeks I have to say I have been laying it down and properly suffering for the cause. Where my program differs from most full time pros is my lack of time to spend on my bike so I need to use my time well and do focussed work using my power meter. I’ve been averaging Ironman race watts or thereabouts from most of my 4hr rides but I include a lot of hard upper aerobic intervals even trying to go spiky and hurt the legs for the run off! OUCH! My biking has basically been good since Roth though so for the last fortnight I’ve been doing 9 runs a week with 5 bike to run sessions a total of 125-135k.

As an example when I finished this ride a few weeks ago JJ looked at me with great concern as I was groaning from the pain in my legs! A wee 10k @ 2:50 mara pace helped me loosen off though. . . .  sort of. To put it in perspective 270-280 watts is about 4:30 IM pace for me on a good course so thats hard riding.

So most of my hard training is done 2 big weeks of running and no injuries so I'm just trying to cope with the physical and mental fatigue which again is hard when you are trying to work well too. Consistnecy in training is pricless now as I know why I feel low and that it wont last and if I keep going through the same processes I should come good!

If I was going to lay my cards on the table I'd say I'm in 8:15 shape but a LOT has to go right to pull that off. I'm still waiting for that perfect race though so maybe this will be it?

Many thanks for taking part in the first Castle Challenge Race, to help make the event even bigger and better we need your comments and feedback. Total Racing International has created a short Questionaire please could you spare a few minutes and fill out the feedback form. 

Feedback Form

Simply click Done when complete.

Thank you again for your support from everyone in the Total Racing International Team!

Here are a few comments and quotes made by competitors from sundays race. 

"Thanks to you and your colleagues for putting on a great and challenging race. For a first event, and a linear Tri it all went very smoothly. I and my mates will definitely be back next year to be one of the 500 that the event deserves."

(David Halliwell)

"Just quick note to say a big thank you for what i thought was a great event, you can't beat a good hard race. I found every bit of the race a good test, choppy water, head wind on the bike and the xcountry run to finish. In addition the atmosphere on the run and finish line is the best i have experienced. The Castle Challenge has set me in a great frame of mind for the Helvellyn.

Many Thanks 

P.S Can't wait for Castle Challenge 2010. "

One of our athletes lost these in T1. What makes this even worse is that they were brand new and this was the first time he was about to race in them!!!

We would love to get these back to their owner.

If you find them please let me know on phil@totalracingint.com 

Cheers,

Phil.

More images are available at www.kaleelzibe.com

While my power shows a slight downward trend the speed has an upward trend due to the stiff Westerly wind. Maintaining my power output on the return leg with a tailwind is almost certainly how I put time in to the competition.

Taking my time in transition again I can chat to the crew, the feet are not with me and I know it’s a tough run. Round the buildings and out on the road I want a solid pace now, don’t dig any holes you’re training tomorrow remember! My legs feel good running quite well but not very fast. I go round the loop at the far end and there’s one guy catching me, I’m going to have to do some work on the way back. It's passing fast though trading encouragement as I go through the line of athletes and in to the last mile I can’t see anyone so I’m feeling safe. David Ogg waved a pint of beer at me from the pub cheering. Looks good I think but I’ll finish first. But the new course thanks to refurbishment of the sports halls means the last 1/2mile is up a steep hill. Urgh no easing off here!

First home and what I think is a course record is a good result for a training race. The cheque for the Scottish championship title will cover my entry for Challenge Barcelona in October as well so look out. Jen got second and a 13min PB thanks to the improvement in her biking since she got the power tap. This race always draws a great crowd and creates a great atmosphere so I can highly recommend it. The volunteers are always super friendly and relaxed too with great burgers after and a handy pub, superb!!!!!!

You always meet some interesting people doing these races and on Saturday I met James Moncur who’s doing his bit to promote the sport and blogging his Challenge Barcelona training experience and fitness gains with the Daily Record. He’s made some cracking progress and raised his VO2 max by 20% so it makes an interesting read http://blogs.dailyrecord.co.uk/ironman/.

Update By Nick Beer

Update by Nick Beer:

Since my last blog, i have put my head down and have churned out some promising sessions in the pool, on the bike and on the running. Things have been feeling great for a while now and each race I am expecting more and more from myself... probably not a good thing as when it doesn’t go my way it hurts a lot!

 Last time I reported I was planning on doing the Manchester 10km. It would have been the perfect course for a fast time... fast, flat and on the day, the weather was ideal. However, I was relying on my friend to get there and this fell on its face and I had to look else for a 10km. The one that took my fancy was the Newmarket 10km. This is quite near my house in Cambridge and it felt ideal, however, although Cambridgeshire is renowned for being flat... this course was hilly and off road, so a fast time was out of the question and the focus was on running tough. Race went well and came 1st in 34.00min... Time was irrelevant, but was happy with how it went. This gave me a lot of confidence going into the European Cup in Athlone, Ireland. 

 The European cup race was a great experience... incredibly well organised and a great atmosphere on the streets of Athlone made the race even special. Athlone is a tiny town, but I have never been to a place with so many bookmakers and pubs... definitely lives up to the stereotype! The build up was intense... waiting on the pontoon with the gladiator theme tune being played in the background, nerves were going through the roof! Had a great start and the swim went really well. It was a 2 lap swim with a dive off the pontoon after the first lap. Two very good French swimmers led out the swim and I came out in 10^th, about 10seconds down. Transition was a nightmare, the elastic band that attached my shoe to my bike jumped off the skewer and I was sprinting off with my shoe banging the floor. What seemed a lifetime, was only a minute or so, but by the time I sorted the issue out I had missed the leading pack.

Before the race began I decided to “try something new” with my drink on my bike. Sadly, these words did come back to haunt me. I decided to put some caffeine in my drink and to try some low GI waxy barley starch, which is a slow releasing carbohydrate and I believed I would benefit more from this than my usual high 5 “super carb” drink. Even though I didn’t feel any discomfort on the bike and the caffeine helped to keep me alert, once on the run I paid the price for poor nutrition. I started off well and felt fast on the first lap of the hilly 4 lap course. However, as the run progressed my stomach began to get tighter and tighter and the bounding on the hills did not help the discomfort. With 1 lap to go I had to pull the pin, it was a horrible feeling and really hard to stop but there was no choice… every step was hard work and I was as white as a ghost… I was gutted!

As the race emotions sunk in the over analysing was done I was actually really happy with how the race went. I felt great racing (excluding the last part of the run) and was really happy with how I am progressing in the sport. I was disappointed with what happened, but I put it down to a school boy mistake. Never play about with nutrition before a race, it is easily said then done, but it affected the outcome of my race massively.

Next stop is London this weekend… will hopefully put some pictures up on my next blog.

Happy racing!!

European Age Group Triathlon Championships

Holten Holland.

4^th July 2009

Baking hot day made for some interesting racing. The weatherwas 33 degrees which made the water temp for the morning 22 degrees meaning nowetsuits allowed. Bad sign for me as I am a poor swimmer anyway.

The day started with me arriving in Holten village for9:30am. And setting up T2, while there I meet up with Alan Coplandtogether we rode the short 7 km or so to T1 and the swim start.

We arrived there early so we had a chance to watch the Para-triand may I say how amazing they were!!! Team Copland and Team MacRae  soon meet up with us after getting theshuttle service from Holten to the swim start. Time passed quickly and it wassoon time to rack my bike in T1. While I was racking my bike I was asked by theITU website to say a few words for their video.

1pm soon came and it was time to race. In the water and waitingfor the gun, once off I tried to go hard and stay with a group it was soon 750meters gone and out of the water we went and through T1 to dive back into thewater for the  other 750 meters. I cameout of the water with a disappointing 25 minutes. Really need to learn how to swim.

Onto the bike and this is where my races start. I started topass and soon felt good, until they started to go back past me. Things were notgoing right legs didn’t seem to want to know and the weather was far too warm,into Holten village and on the 2 lap circuit. We got to the first climb and -Bang I was away, leaving the group behind and starting to get into the speed Iknew I could do. After that I was passing people all the time. Soon Arrivedinto T2 where I racked my bike and left for the run.

Bike time 1 hour 1 minute 28 seconds (2^nd fastestbike time for my age group)

On to the run, legs were amazing now just the sun to contendwith! Managed to go off strong on the first lap and I was soon in the top 10.On the second lap again I kept on passing people which give me some greatconfidence and I was soon up to 7 and 2^nd for GB. I could hear shoutingfor the side of the road that a British lad was about 1 minute up on me. Afteranother strong lap I was able to pass him moving into 5^th positionand been 1^st Brit for my age group. I finished the race in 2 hours 5minutes in 5^th position and 1^st back from GB.  Feeling knackered but really pleased! 

RunTime of 38 minutes so the run was longer than 10km. (Fastest Running time formy age group)

The crowds were amazing and it has been one of the bestraces that I have ever completed.

Thanks for the support from Team Copland, Team West, TeamTweddle and Team MacRae

On Wednesday afternoon, Drew, Smithy and myself headed up to the Castles Challenge race venue for a photo shoot to get some nice images for race promotion. All I can say is WOW!!! 

The bike images are taken at Alnwick Castle, location of T2 and the entire run route. Te run takes place in the castle surrounds seen over the bridge.

The swim shots are from Bamburgh castle. These are taken from the very spot where the swim start and exit point will be. The water clarity is unbelievable! We swam out quite deep and you could see the sandy bottom at all times. There were no stones on the ground, just fine (almost white) sand. These were the best open water swim conditions I have EVEr been in (home or abroad).

This image shows T1, which is at the other side of Bamburgh Castle to the Swim. 

These images give you some idea of the beauty and dramatic setting of the Castles Challenge race. I wish I was racing!!!

Mike Adams was there racing in a team and led out the swim hard and fast with no body able to match his pace. I was slow out of the blocks shivering in the cold but stuck in for a steady swim coming out in 5th. The bike course is good but challenging, I wanted to average over 300 watts for the ride but the technical bits made me cautious on the first lap. I flet great as I've just started riding the Ceepo Venom which has given me a huge boost and feels super fast with way better handling than I'm used to. The second lap started close on the heels of Adam who had taken a minute out of me in the swim but immediately got caught in traffic between a horse box and the back markers! This was so frustrating as Adam was getting away and gave Andy Turnbull, Stirling bike specialist the chance he needed to take me on the steep climb. This gave me a real kick in the ass and I picked it up a bit getting 20sec on Andy in the last lap as we both passed Adam and picked my average watts up again.

Neyedli was comming back to me as we approached transition but still about a minute at the start of the run. Mike was there too putting his feet up after a supereb swim-bike while his father finished off the job on the run. I took start hard and caught Neyedli at around 2k at the foot of the main 3k climb. He was stuggling somewhat in the aftermath of his suberb performance in Lanza last month. I was pretty confident I was the best runner out there now and not wanting to dig any holes settled down to a solid aerobic pace. The rest of the run was good beutifull scenery a little cross country hill section and then a long fast cruise down to transition.

I was delighted to break the course record by 2min and run 36min dead for such a tough run. I'm really pleased with my equipment and my legs going in to the last few weeks before Roth now. It was twice as good as Jen won the girls race too! Thanks to Mike for these pics I ripped off his blog!!!!!!

Next stop Roth

Graeme

Race report by Nick Beer: A lot has happened since I last blogged. I have competed in the national elite champs in freezing cold Strathclyde Park, raced in a very wet Blenheim elite triathlon and contested the Nokia Windsor elite triathlon. 

 Strathcylde was my first Olympic distance race of the year and the water temperature going into it was roughly 12degrees... it was horrible! I went for a warm up swim, just to test it before I took the plunged for the 1500m swim. As soon as I dived in I lost my breath straight away... it was really hard to stay relaxed. Fortunately I found this out in the warm up, but as soon as the gun went the piercing coldness of the Scottish lock hit me again and I was struggling from the word go! Finally, my body calmed down and I adjusted to the external variables and moved my way slowly up the pack. I got out of the swim in the top 10, but my transition was poor and the lead pack just got away. There were approximately 30m between the lead pack and me and it was tantalisingly close, but sadly too far. With people like and Clarke and Brook pushing the pace, it was almost impossible to catch them. The bike was a 7 lap hilly circuit and it was quite ruthless in the fact that if you got lapped you were not allowed to carry on as part of the run course was on the bike course. To give you an idea how savage the lapping rule was... close to 40 men started the race, only 15 men crossed the line in the end. Personally I think it was really bad that they even put part of the run course on the bike course, but I am sure there are good reasons for it. Anyway, after chasing hard on the bike for an hour 3 other guys and myself rode into T2, dismounted and sprinted out jostling for the positions. It took me about 2 laps of the 4lap course to get my running legs, but when they came it felt good. Came a creditable 10th in the end, much better than nationals last year and even got a bit of money out of it.

 Next stop in the British Grand Prix series was Blenheim. A vivid memory I have of this race, last week, was waking up in a Premier Inn about 10miles from the Palace and hearing the perpetual pelting of heavy rain drops on my window and thinking... this is going to be a horrible day! What I remember about Blenheim bike course is that it is hilly, slightly technical and with about 3 or 4 cattle grids scattered throughout the course. Even though they are covered up, on a wet day it does become a major hazard... but exciting at the same time! With swooping bends and testing hills, this was going to be one fun race! Just before the gun went people were moving forward and the canoeists had to push everyone back. This happens in every elite race, everyone pushes forward and every time we are told to move back and then suddenly the gun goes and the fight starts. The swim was very average and just missed the lead pack again (story of my life at the moment), but the hill out of the swim leading to T1 did not catch me out like last year, but sadly I was not quick enough to grab a wheel in the lead guys and was left chasing hard... again! It was a tough bike and I had to really work hard up the hills to stay on a wheel, but sadly we didn’t put any time in on the front pack and exited T2 in the top 20. The run felt very good considering I could not feel my hands or feet. My feet felt like I had rocks tied to them, but my legs felt very light. It was the first time I actually enjoyed the hilly run at Blenheim and crossed the line in a disappointing but potentially pleasing 17th.

 Next stop... Windsor Elite Triathlon. It was the perfect day for the race; it was sunny, very little wind and the temperature was perfect. I chose to do a warm up swim just to get my arms moving, however, when we were called back to the start line I noticed my chip had fallen off and is, even now, lying somewhere on the bottom of the Thames... this minor hiccup meant that I didn’t get any splits, just an overall time. Anyway, the race finally started and i didn’t have a bad swim, probably the best it has felt all season. Came out in a good place, about 15 seconds behind Adams who had a blistering swim but, again, just missed the lead pack on the bike (this will be sorted, trust me!) I was in a pack of 4 and we were working flat out and gaining on the leaders. About 20km or so into the ride a massive chasing pack led by ex pro cyclist Keane from Ireland caught us. It was more of a relief when we got caught because I was red lining it most of the way on the bike and to sit on wheels in a big pack provided much respite for my legs. Eventually we caught the leaders with about 10km to go and as we headed back to T2 there seemed to be a lot of cars on the road than expected. This was very disappointing to see as there appeared to be some slacking in the traffic control as we had to avoid hitting cars on the way through town; very frustrating. Back into T2 safely, I embarked on the 3 lap run and didn’t feel great when I started and took me just under 1 lap to get my legs, but this time my form came quicker and I felt strong throughout. I crossed the line in 8th place. I was happy with how it all went in this race, but still a lot more work needs to be done!

 Having an easy week this week and then back into full training. Next stop will be the City of Manchester 10km and then the European Cup in Athlone, Ireland that will prepare me nicely for London.

 Happy racing!!

2009 Lanzarote Ironman (May 23^rd )

By ElliotGowland

Well think it’s bestto start at the bike check in and miss the near fight at the airport over mybike which turned out to be someone else’s (same box though) Ooops!!!

“This has got to bethe longest transition in the world” I thought while wheeling my Bike down toit’s racking spot but, god must have been smiling down on me as I had one ofthe prime spots along the main run in and the out mat next to the tents and agood place to relate to, two trees with a telephone box between them oppositemy bike “won’t forget that!”

Early morningscrambled egg on toast for breakfast then off down to the start. Checked bikeout everything fine there then went and said my good bye’s through the fence.Down to the water for a quick warm up and usual pee in the wet suit (or is thatjust me?) back onto the beach ready for the run into the sea start. Saw Jamesbut he said he was going to the out side to keep out of the trouble “na! Phil Graysaid stick to the inside nearest the buoys so that’s what I’m doing.”

BANG!! Were off, wellsort of 1300+ people trying to swim to the first buoy which is 160 meters awaythink it would have been better if they put all 1300 people in a boxing ringand shouted “LAST MAN STANDING WINS.” Just a case of punching slapping andkicking to the first buoy by which time I had lost my goggles for the firsttime but got them back on without loosing any pace. Round the buoy lost gogglesagain but starting to get the hang of this by now got them back on in onemovement didn’t even loose my stroke. End of the first loop out of the water,run round the marker then back in for lap 2 no problem here as the field was bynow well spread out right up until the last buoy as we were coming in to finishit got a bit slappy again. Out of the water and into T1.

SWIM- 1h04:56

T1- 5:09

After a good T1 (wellI didn’t spend 5min in the loo like UK 2008) it was out on the bike along thesea front then heading in land. “No wind good, no hang on it’s a tail wind.” Thenturn right onto the first drag (some might say climb) of the day with lots moreto come. Then it started to rain yes rain in Lanzarote just my luck come allthe way over here to race in good weather and it’s raining. As luck would haveit, it didn’t last for long. Now we are onto the laver fields and through feedstation 2 and already had a taste of the head winds that people always talkabout when talking about Lanzarote. Now it’s onto the first proper climb it’sjust a long straight drag of a climb but the head wind is immense which makesit into a long slog. Over the top and a nice short decent then back in to thehead wind all the way to and through La Santa. Now on the coast, strong sidewind then THANK GOD! A tail wind. Now up till this point I had been given itbig licks going against good advise then one other UK competitor who I had beenhaving a little chat to as we passed each other over and over said “well that’sthe easy bit over”  as I passedhim. Mmmm!!

Got to the nextjunction turned left. Yep now I know what he meant, block head wind up hill allthe way to the wind mills so now it was time to ease back a little and keepsomething for when I get over the top. Got to the wind mills and that wasn’tthe top “bummer” kept climbing to the top where the special needs bags weregiven out. Nose in protein bar, Check! Carb bar, Check! Caffeine gel, SHIT !!! Onthe breaks. So they are sadists give you your bag at the top of the climb witha bloody mad descent straight after. So now trying to get my Red Bull out ofthe bag “done” then had to throw it away with my nuts and Jelly babies still in.So now taking my gel and drinking a can of Red Bull and descending hair pinbend after hair pin bend and passing people mad but loads of fun. Back climbingnow back into the head wind.

 Turn left to the start of the climb ofMirrodor Del Reo “what a view” took my mind off the pain. At the top of theclimb now this is where the real work starts time to get my head down arse up,took it easy on the climbs so now its pay back time. Fast fast descent spinninga 53-11 out at 48mph so gave up peddling and just pinned corner after corner allthe way down to the roundabout. Then got settled down for some hard graft andthis were it got hot for the first time. I passed loads of people even on thenasty little sting of a climb before another fast and tricky descent all theway to the finish of the bike leg. As I was coming into T2 I passed Bella justgoing out onto her run. Must have had a good bike leg then!!

BIKE- 5h39:34        

T2- 4:05

In T2 I put mycompression socks on and got a load of sun cream on then it was out on the run.The run is a 4x10k out and back course (5k out 5k back) and decided to just gofor it from the start but on the first 5k I had to stop for a pee on the secondlot of loo’s (first loo stop since the warm up in the sea). After that it washead down all the way only drinking coke and putting the water over my head atevery feed station and as I was heading back to finish my first 10k I saw Jamesfor the first time since the start. First loop done wrist band on and feelinggood so took my caffeine gel that I put in my back pocket in T2. I kept thepace up for another 5k then I started to feel a little flat and on the return5k and my time dropped so it was time to go into survival mode second 10k done.On the next 5k at the first feed station they were giving out salty pretzels sograbbed a hand full and decided to walk the feed station from now on. My timewas down again for that 5k. Now on the way back and more pretzels down andstill walking the feed stations. Running down the finishing chute to start mylast 10k. I looked at my watch and thought if I just push on I can get all mytargets for the year in one race (under 11 hours for Lanzarote & under10:30 for UK Ironman). So I pushed on and started to feel good again runningthrough all the feed stations grabbing water (over my head) and coke (onemouthful only) coming into the last 1/2k I ran past James who gave someencouragement and all I could do was wave. For the last 7 or 8 k all I couldthink about was what Phil Gray said “me and Smithy done it in 10h30 last yearjust go out and beat that”  andwhether I would collapse in a heap when I finished. Running down the finishing chutefor the last time is a fantastic feeling and what Ironman racing is all aboutbut this time it was special having Kerry and my Mam (who has never seen merace Ironman) there to see me pull a time (that I never thought I would do onthat day) like that out of the hat… Tremendous!!!!

RUN- 3h32:40

FINISH TIME- 10h26:22

Then had a beer andwent and got changed and came back out to watch the last few hours and the lastpeople come in washed down with a few more beers.

I’ll get to the sharp end soon but the main event of the day was the face off between TRI’s strength and conditioning coach Nick Grantham and the vintage Ken Gray with the trash talk beginning way back in December last year! Placed in the same lane with Ken starting 10secs ahead of Nick they were off in the first wave – Ken has made great strides with his swimming this winter but Nick managed to put a minute or so into Ken and was off on the bike first. Ken followed soon after and around 45minutes later he arrived back in T2 with a lead of around 25 seconds which is where Ken’s problems started – elastic laces too tight and he took an Ice Age to put his trainers on and Nick caught up and exited T2 only 5 seconds behind. A ding dong battle ensued througout the 5km off road run with each passing one another a couple of times trying to make the break – Ken managing to break free in the last 1km to cross the line just in front of Nick (but he started 10 secs ahead – result later!)

A strong turn out amongst our Age Group team promised much for the race with David Barker(The Professor) and Phil Gray off in the second last wave and Phil Coulson, John Barker, Mick Golightly and Phil Smith off in the last wave. An improved swim from The Professor gave him just under a minute lead over Phil G going onto the bike, Phil however had loaded the Felt with the sub 9 disc and proceeded to take 90 seconds back on the bike to lead out of T2 by 30 seconds. The Professor however proceeded to run Phil down by the turnaround and pull out a further 25 seconds to cross the line ahead.

New team members Michael Todd and Jonno ‘you can’t have enough carbon on your bike’ Robson both enjoyed solid races with Michael producing an improved swim and bike but suffering a bit on the run following recently getting over a bout of runners knee and Jonno putting together a solid swim/bike/run to finish in 15th place.

In the last wave Phil’s Coulson&Smith and John Barker swam within 10 seconds of each other and with Smithy starting 20 seconds ahead he was off on the bike first, Mick Golightly exiting around 45seconds adrift following a winter blighted by a nerve problem in his arm hindering his swimming. JB and Mick proceeded to move through the faster swimmers homing in on Smithy with Coulson (The Gazelle) following not far behind waiting to move in for the kill on the run. Smithy entered T2 first closely followed follwed by JB and Mike Little/Phil Aiston  of Tyne Tri. Speedy tranistions followed and everyone was out within 5 seconds of each other with Mick following 20 seconds later. Phil Coulson approached the dismount line and promptly learned a valuable lesson about making sure you change your brake blocks back to cork when running carbon rims – they grabbed the front wheel hard and he went  r’s over elbow and got some road rash and a bruised knee as a parting gift and had to drop out.

Phil Aiston got into his stride early and came past JB and Smithy who both tried to hold his pace but he continued to gain 20 metres or so. Approaching the turn around the winner Alan Copeland came flying the other way 3 mins ahead of everyone else followed by Phil Aiston, JB, Smithy, Mike Little and Mick Golightly. Everyone was running a similar pace with no one able to catch pass the person ahead with Aiston crossing 15 seconds in front of JB followed by Smithy, Mike Little and Mick Golightly.
With everyone starting with between 10 and 20 second gaps with the swim waves the result weren’t conclusive.

The final results where:
2nd – John Barker
4th – Phil Smith
6th – Mick Golightly
12th – David Barker
13th – Phil Gray
15th – Jonno Robson
53rd – Michael Todd
85th – Ken Gray/Nick Grantham

Unbeliveably the Grantham/Gray face-off finished a dead heat in 1hr 25mins 14 seconds! (although Ken will tell you his name is first on the results) Chapaue to you both – only one word could be heard afterwards……RE-MATCH!

I have started my first season racing in France for a national division 2 team, Tocc Cesson Sevigne, and what an experience it has been so far! However, even though the experience was priceless, the race didnt go as hoped. They decided to fly me out friday (8th may) morning to race saturday morning (9th may) at 11.30... this flight was sorted 2 days before i went, so my input was minimal. Anyway, the flight went to paris where i caught the shuttle bus to Monpanasse to catch the train to Poitiers. As expected the flight was late and to cut a long story short ended up travelling for about 10hours due to many delays on route. With a lack of food and sleep, woke up the next morning looking forward to race. There was about 100 people in my race, all crammed into tiny team pens on the side of the lake preparing to run and dive into the cold waters. The 750m swim went ok, came out in the lead bunch and the transition went cleanly and was out in lead back. Approximately 10 of us formed and there were constant attacks up the first big hill... this was agonising as my legs did not feel great, but just held on to start the descent, which was quite technical. However, to make life worse the rain began to fall heavily and trying to stay on a wheel ended up with sprays of water in your face, so navigating yourself in the pack was very tricky. The bike was a two lap course, 25km in total, and the constant attacks took its toll on me and when the hill came up again could not respond and was dropped with 3 others. We worked desperately hard to bridge the gap back up to the lead pack, but with the hours of travelling in my legs i didn’t feel I had enough there to do it and the lead pack slowly drifted away. The run finally came and the rain was falling heavily now. Unfortunately my legs felt like they weighed at least 50kg each and only moved up a few more positions to come in the top 40. These grand prixs are very close and the 1st place triathlete had only 3mins on me.

This is for Graeme Stewart one of our Pro athletes who we are very excited about this year. Graeme is heading out to Roth to take on the very beat in the world and we feel he is going to blow the lid off!

We also had the last of our seminars with Smart fitness this morning. Nick has put together some fantastic content. We will look to run some more seminars over the winter.

Also managed to get another bike session in, although it was very much a recovery session. Hopefully the sun will be out in the morning for another bike tomorrow. 

Phil.

It was blowing a hooley out there. James Slade came along and it was great prep for the winds of Lanzarote. He heads out there on Thurs and is very excited for race day. 

I had to get back quick as a good friend has been out in the USA with work and I was meeting him from the airport for a drink. We were pushing for time so the 10 mile TT was at a good pace!

It's the last seminar with Smart Fitness tomorrow morning so we will get a bike in after that.

Phil.

New site is up and running and as with everything there are little gremlins to iron out.

One of these gremlins is my blogging skill (or lack of)! I'll have to put more work into this as Tom can't press a few buttons on a computer to sort that one out.

Now that we have site sorted I have one fewer thing on my to do list so training can be a realistic option. I'm off on the bike this afternoon and it's sunny outside (woohooo). Just a shame I'm not doing Lanzarote this year as the wind out there would be prefect prep for it.

I'll let you know how ride went.

Welcome to the TRI Blog. here's where we keep you updated. 

Events, News and Articles from the world of Triathalon and Total Racing International.

We'll also be hosting guest bloggers each month who give you an insight into events, training regimes and their lives.

Total Racing International (TRI) are staging an Olympic distance triathlon with a twist on 23rd August 2009. The 1500m swim will be a sea swim in front of Bamburgh castle. Transition from swim to bike will be in the shadow of Bamburgh Castle on Castle Green.

The aim of TRI is to stage an event which caters for the family as well as the athletes. This will be a great day or weekend trip for the whole family as well as a true large scale race for the athletes involved. Alnwick Castle and gardens predict that they will have between 3,000 to 4,000 visitors on the day in addition to the supporters brought by the athelets, which will make for a great atmosphere for athletes and supporters.

The race is open to individuals and relay teams (one swimmer, one cyclist and one runner).

The 26mile cycle will follow the coastal route from Bamburgh to Alnwick past Dunstanburgh Castle and through Alnmouth on to Alnwick Castle and Gardens. Transition from bike to run will take place in front of the famous Tree House of AlThe 10k run will head out into the grounds of Alnwick castle (famous for it's use in films such as Harry Potter) and finish in the shadow of the castle.nwick Gardens.

The 10k run will head out into the grounds of Alnwick castle (famous for it's use in films such as Harry Potter) and finish in the shadow of the castle.

The aim of TRI is to stage an event which caters for the family as well as the athletes. This will be a great day or weekend trip for the whole family as well as a true large scale race for the athletes involved. Alnwick Castle and gardens predict that they will have between 3,000 to 4,000 visitors on the day in addition to the supporters brought by the athelets, which will make for a great atmosphere for athletes and supporters. The run route has been planned to ensure it is focused around the main spectator area. This means that friends and family can see (and support) you run for the vast majority of the course.

Entry to the race will also give you and your family free entry to certain areas of the Castle and Gardens (restricted access areas which you would need to access to watch the event) as well as a family discount pass to other areas.

The race is open to individuals and relay teams (one swimmer, one cyclist and one runner). Please choose your option on the race entry form below. There will be an option to support our nominated charities. Cancer is an illness very close to our hearts and we aim to raise as much money as possible for Marie Curie and Cancer Research UK. We will be posting more details on how you can support our effeorts to achieve this very soon.