Podiums in Shropshire

This was a relatively low key event that Danny Bluff and coach Paul booked in July, when we were unsure whether travel to the Challenge Championships would be allowed. During August Mark Taylor joined us as his end of season multisport event.

We received an email on Saturday morning to explain that the lake was full of blue green algae and the swim would be replaced by a 5km run – shame for us all, but I wanted reassurance that my swim at the Championships was a consequence of the conditions, not a sudden inability to swim….that reassurance would have to wait!!

We all stayed on a local, adults only, very peaceful campsite, and after the usual breakfast (porridge oats with nuts, seeds and chocolate chips soaked in almond milk with protein powder – about 1000 calories ) arrived at registration on Sunday morning at 6:30 sharp ahead of a 7:45 start. The weather was playing its part and the day promised to be warm and calm after a slightly chilly start. The thing about duathlons is how little gear you need in transition – bike shoes and nutrition on the bike, I head for the run start with my helmet on the floor next to my bike, and a cap for the second run in case the sun shines. We were racked in AG order, so it was pretty straight forward to see who you were playing against in the AG race.

The first 5km run was simply a lap of the course we would do 4 times later, so a good chance to have a real good look at it. We had a few discussions about how to approach the pace for this run, and all resolved to not chase pace at this point, as gaining a minute on the first run would most likely have a negative impact on the rest of the day. A mass start, self-seeded, and we headed out of the park and onto an out and back section on a closed country road, which was true to the “undulating” description – never flat! This was followed by an out and back in a wooded, flat area and back to T1.

I was quite happy that there only seemed to be a couple of bikes from my AG already out….fast running is not a strength of mine at present, and I would genuinely have preferred a swim! Out on the 2 lap bike course, unusually hot, and HR crazy high, I settled into the bars and set about plugging away at my race power. There was a decent hill at the start and a longish upwards drag at the end of each lap, but the 30 odd km in between were broadly flat and on good surfaces. I was feeling good, the power seemed to come easy and the pace was fast. The usual tailwind bottles (2 of) with 90 grams of carbs each should last me the 80km bike course with an energy bar as a supplement. Lap one completed in 1:06 at 35.5 kph and 250W average (bang on!). Felt better at the start of lap 2 than lap 1 and pushed on with no drama continuing to pick off odd faster runners along the way. Lap 2 was identical, stat wise, and I went for the flying dismount again and into T2…..not a bike in sight in my AG – excellent!!. Casual check to make sure Danny’s bike was back in, racked and out again – each transition done in 1 min +/- a few seconds.

The expectation for the run was 2 feedstations (and whilst they didn’t say 2.5 km apart on a 5km loop, that’s what we thought). What actually happened was the feed station was just one station that you passed at 4.8km and 5.2km, either side of a turnaround point……not a lot of use really!! Thankfully I had a gel in my trisuit that I took on the first lap, but water was an issue. Anyway, same for everyone, and settled into the routine of salt tablet and water at the feedstation, collect a gel and take it half way round the loop – so a gel every 5km, and a salt tablet with water (lots) every 5km. On the first loop, I saw the lead bike with someone (not Danny), which was a surprise, but on the second lap he was with him (turns out the bike was with the leader of the Olympic race which was running in parallel until that guy had finished). Normal order restored, and I could settle into the business of using the out and backs to look for people in my AG that might be catching me. The undulations on the country road were starting to become a touch irritating on the third of 4 laps, but dig in and get on with it!! I saw Mark on most laps and figured that I had about 10 mins on him – he was faster on the first run, but I overtook him after about 10km of the bike…..but he planned to negative split the second run, and he seemed to be managing that!!

Heading out onto the last lap and I knew that the only people to have passed me were kids, and I thought the second place athlete in my AG was around 5 mins behind – time to race for the AG win – I knew if I held a 5 min/km pace he wouldn’t be able to catch me…..

Crossed the finish line in 17th place and 1st in AG, just in time to recover and watch Mark cross 6 mins later in 23rd place and 2nd in his AG. He was only 6 mins behind me, and had registered a 3rd fastest ever 10 miles as the last 10 miles of the run – top job! Danny was already rec overed having won the race and finished 45 minutes earlier - a great day out!

A decent, low key event on a very pleasant British day, and some more medals, T shirts and trophies collected