I conquered the island…

Island races middle distance triathlon.

The swim conditions were perfect…pan flat with just a little bit of chop once out in the channel. This is only the second islander race and so from a competitors perspective there are a few improvements they can make. First being the buoys… Really hard to sight them they just weren’t big enough with it being one loop. Especially the last buoy… Tiny round one with a little flag on it that despite regular sighting I just couldn’t see…I think hence why I ended up doing an extra 200meters! 

The bike was fast and consisted of out and back with 4 loops around the resevoir. I had fun on this and got down on my Tri bars lots…. It was lovely to see Zoe and Chris Mcbeth whooping and shooting on the course! ☺️

Came in from the bike and smashed my sub 3:30 goal so made up some time from my extra swim 😂

Now for the run….oh my…. First 2km on the beach in sand with a wicked camber… Calves were on fire but jogged/walked it trying to get my HR down (fail) whilst taking on some food. Then a small section of about 500m on the road and onto the sea wall… Now this wasnt a wall as such just a raised lump between the sea and the fields with very uneven ground and knee high grass for about 10km….I managed to keep some sort of run pace for the majority of this but couldn’t hit the pace on my race plan I knew at this point my run time wasn’t going to be what I’d hoped for…. The second half consisted of more of this terrain with a good few beach sections just to kill the legs some more. Second half was a run/walk tactic as that’s all I could manage! Most of this there was zero support as well… Just you and the rough path which made it mentally tough too. I finally made it to the finish though….. I’ve never been so happy to see a finish line ever!!!

All finishers got a medal which doubles up as a bottle opener, a bottle of ghost ship ale 0% and a mersea Oyster! 

So I popped my Oyster cherry! Would have been rude not to 😉

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This race isn’t my A race for this year but I had history with this one! I completed this race a couple  of years ago, it was my first standard distance race and although I had a good swim and bike I bombed majorly on the run! For this reason I was actually a bit nervous for this race. However, I had my awesome support crew Paul my husband and friends Saleema and Chris….and not forgetting Jasper the dog! They helped keep my spirits up whilst waiting to start….the worst bit for me is that wait to get into the water!

After waiting for the sprint leg to finish it was our turn! They had said the water was 14 but actually when I started to wade in it felt much warmer which was good….this meant I was unlikely to get the dreaded claw hand from the cold. 

Now there were a lot of people in this wave that were racing for the Hertfordshire Triathlon Championships so it was pretty full on for the swim start…Elbows and feet everywhere! Despite the amazing water temperature I was struggling a bit to breath….standing around in a tight wet suit and then laying horizontally thrashing about had done nothing for my digestion. I continued to power through but had to stop a couple of times. That wasn’t my best swim but I got it done.

The bike however, different story. I really enjoyed it….nice fast route with just a few bumps to get the heart working! I was super happy with how it went and I got a PB from my first race of just under 10 mins! 

Then onto the run…..my nemesis for this race. Despite my fears I felt strong and got the pacing just right and even managed to over take a few people on the run! I finished with a very big grin on my face in 3hrs and 3 mins. A new PB for this distance for me. 

Properly on the countdown for Island Races 70.3 now! 🙂

Special shout out to my amazing support crew, my husband for spending many weekends watching me race/train and my awesome coach Allie.

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What a difference a year makes…and a big mistake to teach me a valuable lesson 🙄

Staffs 70.3 last June, my first half IM, ended with me crossing the finish line in 8hr25m24s with severe stomach pains. I’d hung on like my life depended on it, and was overwhelmed when they placed my first IM 70.3 medal around my neck! The pains had started around mile 16 on the bike, after gulping a few mouthfuls of lake water in the swim as I inhaled a wave. Oh boy, did I pay for that! The medic explained that the micro-organisms in the lake were now happily swimming around in my stomach😱🤢

Fast forward to May 2019 – Outlaw Half, Notts.  This year’s goal was to make time up on the bike leg – oh and not to swallow any lake water!! The first goal i’d trained hard for, increasing my power output by 20 watts (I’m getting good at this technical speak now😁) the second goal was, well, we’d see on the day eek!

I was neoprened-up from head to toe for the swim, but toasty warm in the 15oC water. It went well, with lots of space around me, and I found the feet of a faster swimmer, as instructed by Coach Allie. Not a drop of water passed my lips, hooraaay! and I finished almost 4 minutes faster than Staffs last year! I’ll take that 😁

In and out of T1 five minutes faster than Staffs. Yes, you’re right, I had time for a picnic in T1 last year it took me so long 😂 The bike course was really lovely and passed without incident. I built my speed each hour (as instructed by Coach Allie 😬) then gave it everything I’d got for the last hour… Smashed last year’s bike time! and was well chuffed entering T2. 

Out of T2 and onto the two lap run. After about 20 minutes I was beginning to run upright again😁 and decided on a 4 minute run 1 minute walk strategy, feeling that last ‘eyeballs out’ hour on the bike in my legs. As I began the second lap of the run the lactic acid was taking hold, and I entered that dark place where you have to draw on every mantra you ever heard of to keep you putting that one foot in front of the other. Oh boy, it hurt but I knew without a doubt that I was going to finish faster and stronger than Staffs IM 70.3.

As I approached the finish chute I wiped the snot off my face, drew myself upright and found a sprint in me that I never knew I had!!! I crossed the finish line in 7hrs 35mins 36secs… 49 minutes faster than last year! Goal accomplished!!! 

A huge thank you to Allie for being more than just a Coach! Between you and me, I think she’s secretly a highly trained psychologist too, as the mental is as big a part of all this training as the physical is, and boy does she keep it all together for me 🥂

It has been a year of injury and illness for me, with glandular fever, shingles, tonsillitis and a chest infection to name but a few of the illnesses I’ve had since September 2018. Blame it on the baby starting nursery so they say!   As off around February I was starting to feel my health was on the up…. then my old knee injury flared up again!

Long story short, MRI scans have now revealed that what has been a bit of a niggle on and off for 5 or 6 years dealt with by correct strength and conditioning has turned a little more serious. Unfortunately, the scans I had last month now clearly show that I have virtually no patello-femoral cartilage left in either knee. This explains the chronic pain I get when trying to do a squat or lunge, and the awful crunching and grating noises when I flex my knees or try to kneel.  

So, what was my surgeon’s advice?  No surgical solution other than full knee replacements which would not be considered in someone as young (?!?) as me, who is walking about and very active.  So how do I manage the pain?  The advice I was given was stop cycling and running…

Being a PT and a coach, and passionate about racing myself, clearly giving up cycling and running is not an option.  So, the next most sensible thing to do, reduce all my training and racing to short distances instead of endurance / Ironman training and see what happens this year whilst also waiting for a second opinion from a different surgeon (one who understands telling a triathlete not to run or cycle is going to fall on deaf ears).

So, this brings me to the start line of my local Aquathlon sprint series…

Race morning was a bit grey and miserable to start with, but all the baby ducklings and signets made for some very cute prerace entertainment for my little boy Charlie who was there as my cheer squad along with Daddy and Aunty Leema.

The swim was uneventful, I’ve swum at Stanborough plenty times before, put myself on the front line even though I’m far from the fastest of swimmers.  2 laps of the course are meant to be around 750m, however I was disappointed to come out in a much slower time than expected given my current pool times.  Everyone I have spoken to post race seems to have clocked closer to 900-950m so the course is obviously a little longer.  

Out of the swim and straight onto the run, wetsuit off, trainers on, a quick hello to my cheer squad and off I set off on the 5km multi-terrain run. The course is a nice one, part gravel track around the lake and part grassy fields, one big hill halfway around the lap.  After the first lap there is a bit where you can look ahead and behind and see who is around, I knew Tamsyn and Rebekah were way ahead of me as they are much better swimmers, but I could see at least 2 maybe 3 other girls in front about 500m away, oh well bang goes my chance of a medal then.

My knees were not giving me any grief at all and being as my coach has been giving me some good 400m effort sessions to do I thought I should push a bit harder as I knew I had some speed in my legs somewhere.

On the long descent of lap 2 I realised I seemed to making some ground on one of the woman ahead of me, ‘let’s do it’ I thought so I started to reel her in and then went for it with a confident pass to make sure she didn’t try to kick back and pass me. Another couple hundred metres in and I realised I was gaining on the next woman…Hmmm, less than a km to go, can I really make up that gap and pass her?  Off I went, ‘just pretend it’s one of my 400m efforts’ I thought.

So, I gained some ground and on the last straight along the lake I made my move, I went for it, thankfully she didn’t have a final kick left in her and I managed to pass and keep going to open up a gap or around 10-15seconds by the finish line.

I was met over the finish line by a massive smile and cheers from husband and my friend with my little boy there to give a big kiss too.   I felt absolutely rinsed, I’ve not pushed that hard for a long time and was so happy to have had the confidence to push hard to take an extra couple places.

The icing on the cake was an unexpected 3^rd female place medal and a ‘post baby’ 5km PB.

A brilliant morning and I can’t wait for my next 2 Aquathlons and a sprint tri later this year.  

Very proud of RedAlert PT athlete Kerry for her first race fo the season!

Smashed it!!

Run through – half marathon at The Velo park….. let’s just put this in perspective….that’s 13.1 miles on a 1 mile cycle track! So 13 and a bit loops. Now I knew this one would be mentally tough just from the number of loops I had to do! Mentally soul destroying and even worse when I’m really bad at counting 😂

My lovely coach had given me some pacing to do my best to try and stick to but there was no pressure I just had to do my best and use it as a baseline for the rest of my training. I managed this well until about 12k in but that’s when I had a mini meltdown… panic attack set in and I had to have a very strong word with myself! But I managed to drag my ass around the last half trying to keep the pace where I could but it dropped off here and there. 

I’m really bad at putting pressure on myself and although I tried to apply a healthy attitude to this race I still ended up in a battle with myself. 

But that’s ok….I still came in at 1hr 58 which I wasn’t expecting so despite it all I’m really really chuffed. I had to dig deep and I won overall! 👍

Also I wouldn’t recommend this race….. the loops and the lack of support from spectators was miserable! Even my husband (who was cheering and clapping) said it was awful!

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!!! New Tuesday and Thursday evening Slots available with PT Jordan !!!

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A version of HIIT was based on a 1996 study[10] by Professor Izumi Tabata (田畑泉) et al. initially involving Olympic speedskaters. The study used 20 seconds of ultra-intense exercise (at an intensity of about 170% of VO2max) followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated continuously for 4 minutes (8 cycles). The exercise was performed on a mechanically braked cycle ergometer. Tabata called this the IE1 protocol.[11] In the original study, athletes using this method trained 4 times per week, plus another day of steady-state training, for 6 weeks and obtained gains similar to a group of athletes who did steady state training (70% VO2max) 5 times per week. The steady state group had a higher VO2max at the end (from 52 to 57 mL/(kg•min)), but the Tabata group had started lower and gained more overall (from 48 to 55 mL/(kg•min)). Also, only the Tabata group had gained anaerobic capacity benefits. In the original study from 1996, participants were disqualified if they could not keep a steady cycling pace of 85RPM for the full 20 seconds of work.