Sunday, 30 June 2013

Cycletta Bedfordshire – 30th June 2013

Having enjoyed the Cycletta 2012 I was looking forward to this year's event  but really wanted to improve my time.  With a better bike, a good knowledge of the route and improved fitness I then unleashed my secret weapon......enter ”Evil Coach” aka Chris. It is amazing how much faster I can cycle when followed by him giving me advice, tips, and general encouragement.  This is not just in a bid to escape from Chris and did genuinely help. 

The  route of the Cycletta was changed at the last minute due to road works between Tingrith and Toddington.  The new route was good as it took us down some of the evil hills that would previously been "ups"!  However this was balanced by a number of long drawn out climbs that really did get my legs working.  The run through Woburn Park was the hardest as in the last mile or so my legs were starting to tire but a little voice in my head kept telling me to “keep those little fat legs going”. Thanks Chris!

The event was much larger this year with a real mix of cyclists and bikes.  I soon learned that most women continually brake when going downhill and, as someone who likes to fly down and take advantage of the free speed to gain some time, I found this quite frustrating.  However, everyone was really friendly and supportive and it is good to see so many women out on their bikes.

My final time was 1 hr 41 (85th out of 308) which was a huge improvement on last year so the training paid off.
Thanks to Chris and Ellen for all their support and to everyone who sponsored me.

Perhaps next year we can get a Flitwick Tri group together for the Cycletta.  If we don’t have enough girls I have a couple of nice wigs that the guys could borrow!
 
Lois

Saturday, 29 June 2013

Wimpole Estate Parkrun - 29.06.13

The Jones family went further afield for their weekly Parkrun fix this morning and were joined by Les Potts. Pete achieved a PB over the testing course and Les and Fiona took part in the event for the first time.

Times were:

Pete Jones           25.44
Les Potts             26.55
Fiona Jones         28.27

Well done all.

Bedford Parkrun - 29.06.13

This morning saw 5 FlitwickTri members taking part in a very pleasant and sunny Parkrun amongst a field of 187 runners. Continuing their run of recent PBs Steve Clough and Sarah Eke yet again set personal bests.

Times were:

Liam Ko                22.14   
Chris Wright         22.17
Steve Clough        24.17
David Smith         30.26
Satah Eke            30.32

Well done everyone.
Chris

Thursday, 27 June 2013

Tuesday, 25 June 2013

Colmworth Marathon Challenge - 21 to 23 June 2013

This weekend Liam and I took part in the Colworth Marathon Challenge.

This is a series of three trail races which take place over three
consecutive days. The races consist of a 5 mile, an 8.1 mile and a half
marathon, all of which add up to a full marathon distance.

Set in rural North Bedfordshire each race was on multi terrain surfaces
predominately around fields, through woods and on farmyard paths, and all
were undulating.

Organised by the Colworth Striders the event was held at the Unilever
factory site (hence lots of free Lipton's ice tea) and impressive sports
complex. It was very well organized with many water stations and lots of
very supportive marshals.

It was a serious event with the running clubs turning up in large numbers
and only a few running for fun.


Friday 21st Colworth 5mile

The event kicked of with the relatively straightforward 5 mile trail race.
The conditions were fine and warm with the course being relatively dry. We
race together for 4/5k before Liam was able to pull away on the up &
downhill sections.

Out of 375 runners Liam finished 218th with a time of 43m 11s and I came in
263rd with a time of 45m 46s.

Given the surface and the company we were in we were satisfied with these
results.


Saturday 22nd Trail 8.1mile

This course was officially described as cross country. The rain overnight on
Friday and again on Saturday morning succeeded in making certain parts of
the course particularly difficult and overall very demanding. One particular
section of the course, maybe half to 1k, was very slippery being on a narrow
path deeply rutted with tyre tracks from farm vehicles. No one overtook on
this section with most runners struggling to stay upright. Soon after
followed a long decline, which was most welcome until we realized that we
had to turn around at the bottom and head straight back uphill when it
seemed much steeper and longer. This was a tough course!

Once again Liam and I ran together for about 4 or 5k before I started to
tire and Liam didn't!

Liam finished in 131st place recording a time of 1h 14m 17s and I came in
186th out of 249 in a time of 1h 23m 53s.

Once again given that we had never run on these surfaces before and the
recent rain we were happy with the times achieved.


Sunday 23rd Half Marathon

The exertions from the previous two days and the surfaces we had to run on
made this a really tough day. Although undulating most of the fields were
well drained fortunately and there were no muddy sections to content with.
The course was two laps of mainly fields and woodland paths with the weather
remaining dry and slightly breezy.

Personally I was struggling even before the half way mark and had to resort
to walking several stretches. The second lap saw me pretty much exhausted
and making slow progress. I eventually finished 238th place out of 263
runners in a time of 2h 22m 43s.

Liam on the other hand seemed to relish the conditions and finished certain
that he would be back next year! He finished in an excellent time of 1h 55m
06s coming in 143rd.


Overall it was a tough weekend in which I found a new respect for trail
runners and also learned that it is easy to underestimate the demands on the
body of such races so close together.

However both of us were proud to complete this challenge.

Congratulations to Liam who beat his pre race predicted time of 4 hours to
complete this challenge by about 5 minutes.







Les

Sunday, 23 June 2013

Bedford Parkrun - 22.06.13

5 FlitwickTri runners were in action in Bedford on Saturday for a very windy Parkrun. The conditions made things tough but that didn't stop Sarah getting another PB.

Steve unfortunately had forgotten his barcode but he was just behind Pete so I have estimated his time from that.
 
The times were:

Pete Jones               24.50
Steve Clough            24.58
David Smith             28.49
Sarah Eke                32.20
Christina Eke           39.47

Well done everyone

Chris

Bedford Sprint Triathlon - Sunday 16.06.13

I am lying on the couch as I write - no, no, no, not being lazy, before you jump to conclusions - I got back an hour ago from hospital after my knee op!!!  All good now apparently and most importantly I should be back on my bike in 2 weeks!

So thought I would write about last Sunday - I raced at Bedford with a few local girls all for charity - Starlight, see picture enclosed.  (Thanks for your sponsorship, Chris, really appreciated).  In preparation I have done a fair bit on the bike (am loving it and my bike is my new best friend!), a little bit in the pool and virtually no running due to sore knee as I didn't want to get injured. But, I did it in 1.38 I was very pleased with. It was a lovely atmosphere as the 'Starlight girls' got lots of cheers on the way round with our bright yellow Starlight tops and we had a great picnic afterwards!

Penny