Vitruvian 2014. Meh.

Use this to post your race reports, posts must contain references to your obligatory mid pee fart...

Vitruvian 2014. Meh.

Postby kfjatek » 04 Sep 2014 00:13

Preamble
Vitruvian was my second HIM distance race of the season, but the run-up to it was as different from the run-up to Poland as it gets. Training got more patchy, injuries started creeping back in, nutrition regime relaxed a bit and most of the mojo was nowhere to be found. I guess before Poland it had been the first time I had subjected myself to a "proper" training regime and once that was out of the way I kind of subconsciously switched gears. As a result, I found myself on the start line of the Vit 4 kilos heavier, in worse fitness shape and with a bit of a 'meh' motivation levels. And with the original sub-5hr goal still kind of in the back of my head, sniggering at me.

Before the race
Arrived in Rutland on Friday evening, Mrs. Kfjatek in tow, just in time to register and pick up my race pack. When we got there, almost straight away we spotted Sibs, who gave us a hug and said the wind (difficult to miss at the venue) was supposed to ease off on race day. It had been windy on the day I did my recon ride a few weeks before, so nothing that I hadn't been expecting, really.

Registration was quick & painless, really impressed by the organisation.

Decided not to rack the bike for the night, as it looked like it was going to rain overnight and I had no bike cover. This meant I had to get up early on race day, but this was already on plan for breakfast, so no real impact.

Before we made our way to Broccoli Bottom (he he, bottom :-) ), a lovely quiet B&B just off the Ripple, we bumped into hussler, who looked all pumped up and ready to smash it (which of course he did). When we got there, we said hi to a bunch of Kingfishers who were also staying in the same b&b, cooked a bit of pasta for dinner (I forgot to pack half of the ingredients), threw away two thirds of it (I felt apathetic and just didn't feel like eating), prepared all the kit for race morning (here i actually did remember to pack all the bits and pieces) and went to sleep. Or in my case, went to bed to toss & turn for 3 hrs or so, wondering if it was even a good idea to make the trip up.

Woke up at 4am to the sound of night rain dying out (good call with Saturday racking), had double portion of my favourite bircher muesli (forgot to pack honey..) for breakfast and jumped in the car to make our way to the race venue. The number of HGVs on that road at 5am worried me more than a little bit on the way (as Mark later told us at race briefing, there had been an overnight A1 diversion that stopped for the day, phew).

Parked, made my way to the transition area, found my spot, set everything up - including clipping in shoes, I'd been practising the half-flying mount for a while now, so this was as good an opportunity as any to see how it works in a race situation - had a quick visit to the toitoi and made my way to the cafe for race briefing, during which I put on my wetsuit.

Formalities sorted, I kissed Mrs kfjatek goodbye and walked into the lake to get acclimatised & find a good spot for the start.

Swim
TUUUUUUUUUUT! And we’re off. Swim start is in several waves and I was in the first one, so there’s not actually that many people around and it doesn’t take too long to find clear water and settle into a rhythm. As usual at this stage, there seems to be lots of folks who are overcooking the start, so by the first buoy there’s quite a pinch again. I take it wide (probably even a bit too wide), not particularly interested in giving away or receiving punches and kicks in the face. Then it’s a long drag past buoy 2 and to the next turn at buoy 3 – the three buoys are meant to be set up in a straight line, but clearly aren’t, and as I navigate straight for buoy 3 to swim in as straight a line as possible between the turn points, I see the main field a good few meters to my left. They’re clearly putting in extra yards, as I can see myself slowly overtaking them one by one. Lots of flora right under the surface at this point – not a particularly enjoyable experience, getting your hands tangled up in weeds.

Another turn, and back to the start/finish point to get out and start another lap. At this point the navigation becomes interesting and a bit funny, as to get to the shore we need to swim around the Rutland Belle, so I find myself sniggering in my mind thinking of brother flavadave and wondering if maybe that is the famous vessel he decided to ram himself into all those years ago. And hoping I'm not in for a repeat.

Out of the water, through a short chute and back in for the second lap. But wait – ouch! The bottom doesn’t exactly lend itself to a running start (mats would have been a good idea here), so it turns into more of a cautious walk until it gets deep enough to submerge and swim again. By now I’m virtually on my own, so the whole second lap goes smooth, with the exception of one idiot who, after swimming nearly two laps at fast (too fast?) pace, decides to take the last turn in breast stroke. I swim into him, then a bit over him, then have him behind. Around the Belle again and out of the water feeling pretty smug and quite fresh. Also just in time to get caught by the fastest swimmers in the second wave. All is well, except for my feet which feel pretty numb with cold..

Chip time 34:39.

T1

T1 was lightning fast. So fast in fact, that Mrs kfjatek didn't manage to walk to the Bike Out to take a photo. Wetsuit etc. off, helmet on, bike off rack and off we go. Shoes already on bike, in a clever way that I'd learnt from Sibs in France (allows for a graceful postman-style mount rather than the infamous fertility threatening flying squirrel), number belt under wetsuit, no shades as visor on helmet. The number of potential clusters brought right down to the minimum. Or so I thought.

Out in record-breaking (for me, anyway) 1:43.

Bike
Sooo... Out to mount line, lovely mount, now for shoes. Damn those feet feel numb straight out of the water. One attempt, no luck. Second one, won't go in. In the third one I managed to pull the Velcro strap out of the buckle, game over. Stop, unclip shoes, put the strap where it should be, put shoes on, mount like a normal human being and off we go. Let's just hope no photos were taken of that one...

Out onto the road finally and straight away I can see this 90k is going to be an uphill struggle. First 5k or so (undulating, with head wind) I barely manage to pull my speed up to 27-28 kph. "Shit, what's going on, that's cruising speed on a normal day!" It gets a bit better when we turn south and into a few hundred metres of sheltered road, I manage to regain some composure there. Doesn't take long, though, before we hit the Ripple. And it hurts. I remind myself not to push too hard & save my strength for the lovely southern part of the route. Finally! Left at the roundabout and a lovely stretch of smooth tarmac, mostly flat or gently downhill. I hold 40-50kph for most of it, and at last, probably some 20k into the ride, I start feeling like a *cyclist*. Through a couple of villages and left onto a shortish hill that takes me back to A606. Feeling considerably stronger on that hill. But not on the A606. Into the wind again, and undulating enough to throw you out of rhythm. Plenty of places where you're on the verge between aero position and the handlebars. Probably my least favourite part of the route - with the Ripple at least you know what you're getting yourself into and can prepare mentally for a *climb*. This section on the other hand is just "uneven".

Into feed station, grab a High5 bottle just in case, give it a squeeze into the Speedfil (first time I did this, went very smooth) and discard like a pro cyclist (read: litter) - no bidon drop zone after feed station, unfortunately. Onto lap 2.

More folks out on the road now, and most of them slower than me (I guess the speedy folk had 45k to overtake me, so probably by now they have), so I get to do some overtaking, which is fun. Second lap feels considerably smoother and a bit faster - as Strava suggests, it actually was, too. Largely uneventful - fortunately it was still early enough that traffic hadn't picked up. A bit of a hold-up on the last little hill in Empingham, caused by someone riding up it even slower than I would and a line of cars stuck behind that someone. Normally this would probably have made me a bit angry, but throughout the day I felt a bit withdrawn and it showed here too - just shrugged and overtook those cars I could, then folded back in as the jam was easing off. Another couple of kms and taking left into T2.

Chip time: 2:38:17

T2
Lovely flying dismount (shoes off on the way in) and into transition area. Bike racked, lid off, socks on, shoes on, cap on, quick gulp of drink and off we go. Out in 2:08.

Run
Two out-and-back laps ahead, so effectively 4 x 5k. Plan was to start steady and increase effort as we went along. In reality, started off strong - possibly too strong (about 5 min/km pace), but I felt it should be sustainable. Quads thought otherwise, though. After about 3-4k they started cramping up like hell. Dug deep and managed another 4-5k or so, pace slowly sliding down. Finally towards the end of the first lap had to slow down to a walk. Turned out to be the right things for my quads, but the wrong thing for my head. I literally had NO desire to be in that place. Felt like I was cheating myself, freeriding the race on latent fitness™ rather than giving it a fair go. Too late by now though, that thought should have appeared in my head back in June. Put myself together and run/walked the rest of the route, encouraging folks I knew who were running in opposite direction (S11, hussler, Mattie from Les Stables, my coach, a few Kingfishers) while feeling massively counter-motivated myself. The fact I was so close to the finish was probably the only thing that kept me going. After a gruelling 2 hours and 5 minutes I made it home. "You are a Vitruvian" shouted Sibs, for the 318th time that day.

Chip time: 2:05:04

Overall time: 5:21:51
Position: 318 of 739
51st out of 81 in my age group

Interestingly, I was 142nd after T2. Which means the crappy run cost me exactly 176 places. Definitely the ONE thing to work on over the next season, I'd say..

:ugeek:
2015:
26/04 Southampton 10k
30/05 Sieraków Triathlon
21/06 Dambuster Triathlon
29/08 Club Relays
27/09 Hever Triathlon
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Re: Vitruvian 2014. Meh.

Postby CCS » 05 Sep 2014 13:18

You tease.... when is the next installment coming out?
Talking to myself and feeling old
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Re: Vitruvian 2014. Meh.

Postby Jack Hughes » 05 Sep 2014 13:33

Yes. I was hoping it would all be published in time for my next long train journey (Sunday?)
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Re: Vitruvian 2014. Meh.

Postby kfjatek » 05 Sep 2014 14:07

It's coming, it's coming. Will type something up today.

:ugeek:
2015:
26/04 Southampton 10k
30/05 Sieraków Triathlon
21/06 Dambuster Triathlon
29/08 Club Relays
27/09 Hever Triathlon
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Re: Vitruvian 2014. Meh.

Postby kfjatek » 05 Sep 2014 15:17

Second installment added in. We're in T1.

:ugeek:
2015:
26/04 Southampton 10k
30/05 Sieraków Triathlon
21/06 Dambuster Triathlon
29/08 Club Relays
27/09 Hever Triathlon
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Re: Vitruvian 2014. Meh.

Postby IanM » 05 Sep 2014 16:16

I wonder if the water level's lower than usual, I don't remember weeds the 2x I've swum in there.

Re Flava's boat 'docking' (freebie for you there Kev), I believe that was at Swashbuckler.
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Re: Vitruvian 2014. Meh.

Postby scibby » 05 Sep 2014 18:59

So far so good. Please get writing. I mean you must have loadsa time now the training eased off!


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15/06. Windsor Sprint
2-7/07. Les Stables
03/08. Guildford Sportive. 100km
06/09. Sundowner Sprint. Needs BAT approval
28/09. Hever Olympic
12/10. Malta Champs? Needs BAT approval.
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Re: Vitruvian 2014. Meh.

Postby S11 » 06 Sep 2014 13:00

IanM wrote:I wonder if the water level's lower than usual, I don't remember weeds the 2x I've swum in there.

Re Flava's boat 'docking' (freebie for you there Kev), I believe that was at Swashbuckler.


the water level did look a bit low, I got tangled up in those weeds as well and can remember thinking where they had come from.
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Re: Vitruvian 2014. Meh.

Postby Bopomofo » 09 Sep 2014 23:58

zzz....

So this was a DNF then, Kfjatty?
I had fun once. It was awful.
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Re: Vitruvian 2014. Meh.

Postby kfjatek » 10 Sep 2014 02:47

Bopomofo wrote:zzz....

So this was a DNF then, Kfjatty?

Training for 10hrs a day this week, then drinking for another 10 and sleeping the remainder. And managed to wipe out majority of the final installment that I started up on my tablet. Need a little bit more patience. :-/

:ugeek:
2015:
26/04 Southampton 10k
30/05 Sieraków Triathlon
21/06 Dambuster Triathlon
29/08 Club Relays
27/09 Hever Triathlon
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