Speight's Coast to Coast Race Report: Part 3 - Day 2

The weather men got it right.  At some point in the night the rain came down and the wind blew a hoolley.  I didn't sleep well but that had nothing to do with the weather thanks to really good earplugs, thanks Suzanne!!!

Challenge 5: What to wear when the weather giving you everything it has got...
Everything!  Well, maybe not quite, I had a lot of stuff with me!  The rain was really pouring down.  It was really hard to decide what to wear.  We had an hour to hang around out in the open between our support crew leaving and the start of day 2 because we were all due to travel on the same road.  Whilst waiting, we needed lots of layers, but once we started peddling, we would over heat.  I opted for the my Ocra shorts with my skins over the top and on top I had a poly prop under a cycle jersey with my waterproof jacket over the top.  Finally, I have full waterproof top and bottoms on until I had to say goodbye to my crew.

Eating my porridge was tough that morning, then rain kept on filling it up with water!

I had been apprehensive about the ride, it was going to be the longest ride I had ever done.  I needn't have worried, it was amazing!  By the time I started cycling on day 2, I was shaking like a leaf with the cold. 20 minutes in to the ride and I had to stop to take off my waterproof jacket and hat because I was over heating!

Yes the ride was tough.  It involved about 85k of hills and the remaining distance was flat with a very slight down hill.  There was one point where it was so steep that most got off and walked.  It was pretty windy too, I got blown into the grass verge on 4 occasions, but lucky I didn't fall off and it never involved another rider. I witnessed that though!

The ride across the Canterbury Plains was also tough.  I was tired, had too many clothes on and was stuggling with food and water.  We had a bike transition to top up on food and water, which I did, but it was hard to eat and drink because the wind was so strong I needed to hold on.  On the plains the sun was really hot but I didn't have any sunblock on and had none in transition so I opted to keep my layers on to protect me from burning.  It did mean I was over heating.  Big time!
But it was also amazingly beautiful. And the down hills were sooooooo much FUN!  I clocked up 46.1 mph, my fastest downhill time to date.  It was also a draft legal race, no areobars alowed to two day competitors, so it was excellant fun riding in a chain gang.  You really noticed the difference when you got dropped!

I arrived at the kayak tranistion in good time.  I fact I beat my support crew!  After looking around a bit, I got told that many support crews were being held up in traffic.
 
Challenge 6:  What do you do if you beat your crew to transition?
I sat down by my race number, thanks to a seat offered by another competitor's support crew, ate all my food and drink and cooled off in the shade.  I was pretty relaxed, there was nothing I could do.
 
Challenge 7:  What do you do when you discover that your support crew have been waiting in the wrong place?
Suck it up.
 
I don't know what made me look round but when I did I saw Helen and Matt looking up the road for me.  They were standing at 400, I was at 500!  Neither of us had looked round for the other!  This did upset me a wee bit but there was nothing I could do.  They had had a tough day too, with lots of changes to the plans.
 
As I got into my kayak kit, they informed me that it was being cut short by a bit and that I would be getting on my bike again for the final 7k.
 
Challenge 8: A 20k kayak along an almost flat river, with no idea of distance, with the tide coming in and a head wind.
This was by far the hardest point of the race.  So close to the finish, we were meandering thfough Christchurch! and yet so far.  Because I was in the old sea kayak rather than a light race boat and with a normal paddle rather than wings it was really tough going.  Three times I asked someone on the bank how far we had to go and three times in the space of an hour I got told 10k!  A bit later I asked it became 3k left to go.  Three time I got told it was about 3k!  I got fairly close to a sense of humour failure.  I was not happy.  Luckily many of the competitors were feeling the same and so we supported each other with banter.  The final 3k, the actual final 3k, was really tough.  I just put my head down and kept going.
 
I finally turned the corner and saw the boat shed, yeeee haaaaa!
 
Helen and Matt pulled me out of the boat, helped me get changed, gave me my bike and sent me on my way.  I was really cold but had nothing in transition to put on.  Luckily I warmed up as I peddled.
 
That final 7k was a blur.  I was tired and felt like the wind was going to blow me into the sea at any moment but I made it.  I handed my bike to an official and started running, down the shoot, on to the beach and across the finishing line.
 
19:23:46.
 
I staggered to the sea, touched the waves and smiled.  I had done it!

Speight's Coast to Coast race report: Part 2 - Day 1

The day started with a 4.45am alarm call.

I got myself sorted, though there wasn't much to do.  I decided the previous evening to stay up later that I would like to check all my kit, food and liquid so that I could have a relaxed morning.  Meanwhile, Matt made my breakfast and Helen started to breakdown our camp.

Whilst I didn't sleep well, the morning went very smoothly.  Simon and I cycled to the the bike transition 4.6k away and my support crew headed to the run transition 50k away to wait for me.  From the bike transition, Simon and I walked the final 3k to the beach (stopping several times in the many portaloos for nerves breaks!)

I washed my hands in the sea, making sure I had a true coast to coast experience, and joined the many participants stretching, warming up and watering the flora.

The race started with a 3k sprint to our bikes.  I'm really bad at sprint starts, especially first thing in the morning, so I decided to play it safe.  This meant that I didn't make the 200 strong pack of cyclists but it did mean that my legs weren't goosed in the first 5 min!

I reached my bike, stripped off my leg warmers, changed my shoes and was off.  What a blast!  The course undulates steadily upwards for 55k and passes through lush forest, wide river plains and heads towards the mountains.  The temperature was perfect, warm with a cool breeze.  I polished off a 750ml bottle of electrolyte, a 750ml bottle of water and ate something every 30min.

I came into bike transition feeling good.  I quickly changed my top and shoes, had some food then grabbed my rucksac and was off.

After 3k of track we came to the first of many river crossings.  It is pretty standard to assist your fellow competitors at crossings and I held the hand of a girl called Marie.  I think she helped me more than I helped her!  In the end, Marie and I stayed together for the rest of the 'run'.  I say run in the loosest sence of the word, more like a walk!  I hadn't had much practice running over river beds.  I'm usually good at going over on my ankle in terrain like that, so decided to walk as quickly as I could for most of it and running when it was safe.  I hadn't had a chance to go over the running route before the race.  I'm glad I didn't try, it would have scared me.  Walking with Marie was a good partnership, she knew the route and I had the food timing nailed.  Every 30 min we ate something, every river crossing we drank something.  I also carried 2ltrs of electrolyte for the first and last 5k where you can't drink from the rivers.  Generally I was happy my nutrition stratagy re the Cliff Bars but the Cliff Shot blocs were not a good idea, they didn't have enough calaries.  After 3 hours I ditched them for my back up food.

The run was tough.  It is stoney, rocky and rooty on the way up and muddy and rooty with steep drops on the way down.  I was glad to cross the finish line.

I met with Helen and Matt (and the new kayak) and headed for our camp.  I was in the process of eating my dinner, having downed my Banana Rego, when officials started giving anouncements of an emergency race briefing that all had to attend at 7pm.

Challenge 4: What happens when the weather turns against you...
The emergency race briefing was to inform us about the sever weather warning that had been issued to our area.  We were told that we make sure our tents were well and truely secured because the weather was really going to hit us.  But that wasn't the bad news...  The bad news was that the Waimak, the river we were due to paddle, was due to quadruple in size over night!  The kayak leg as we knew it was cancelled!  Instead we were to cycle the 135k (or 145k depending on who you listed too!) back to Christchurch, over the Southern Alps, then a 20k paddle down the Avon.  In the pouring rain and galeforce winds!

Day 2 was going to be interesting!

Speight's Coast to Coast race report: Part 1

The Speights Coast to Coast happened last weekend and boy was it interesting!

For many, the biggest challenge is just getting to the start line.  This was a challenge, on many levels, but it was just one of many that happened over the weekend.

Challenge 1:  Getting to the start line...
This was a hugh mental hurdle that did not go away until it was too late.  And then re-occurred for day 2!  However, I also had the challenge of actually physically getting to the start line.  My initial plan (plan A) was to travel with my support crew (Helen and Matt), however, they informed me when I arrived that they could not leave until after work.  Fair enough though a little more warning might of helped.  I arranged with a fellow competitor and friend from Scotland (Simon) to take me bike and went onto the sportzhub website to se if I could get a lift with someone else (Bryan) (Plan B).  This was almost all arranged when I happened to be in a local kayak shop.  One of the instructors (Cam) offered to to take me and my bike (Plan C).  Bonus, I thought, I wont be separated from my bike.  The day before race registration, I called to check what time we were leaving only to find it was too late for my registration!  Back to plan B, and a rapid drive across town to deliver my bike to Simon!

I got a lift with Bryan, a fellow competitor.  This was a pretty relaxed journey!

Challenge 2:  Finding my bike...
I arrived at registration at 2.30, registration was due to open at 3pm, and started to look for Simon and my bike.  I registered, no problem, but couldn't find Simon.  We had no mobile phone reception so had no way to communicate.  I set up my tent, a nice little spot in a clean horse stall, protected from any weather, and started looking for my bike again.  At 5.15pm, I headed to my sitting of the pasta party, hoping that I would see him there.  I finally met with Simon at 6.15.  Bryan gave me and my bike a lift back to my tent so that I could start applying all my stickers.

At 8pm, we had our race briefing.  I hitched a ride with another competitor (James) who had space in his car.

Back at my tent for 9pm I finally met up with my support crew.  Thank goodness I hadn't travelled with them but...

Challenge 3:  Kayaks...
Matt approached me and said "I have been thinking and have decided that you should us the sea kayak." (Instead of the eclipse 5.7, a really nice boat, that was strapped to the roof of the van).  I was a little confused but decided to go with the flow.  Matt continued... "We had a little accident on the way here, drove over the rachet strap stabilising the front on the kayak, practically snapped the kayak in two!!!" OMG!  This was Matt's pride and joy!!  This was only going to be the 3rd time the kayak had seen a river!  Matt had only paddled it once before!!!! OMG!!  Poor Matt.  He looked sick and probably felt it too. His kayak was insured, but that was not the point.  As far as my race was concerned, I was in luck.  Matt would go back home and pick up his old sea kayak whilst I was doing the running leg.

Antwerp race report - Race Day

I woke up after a bad nights sleep to find a very wet day. The day before it was 29C, race day morning it had dropped to 17C! This didn't actually worry me too much. Having trained in Scotland in all weather conditions meant this was normal for me.

We arrived at the start and I put my bike together and checked the tyres. I had planned to do this the day before but it didn't happen. I wasn't happy that the pump was working properly but I had to make do.

I was nice and early at T1 so had lots of time to set up. The pouring rain made it all the more pleasant for my support team. I wasn't too bothered as I was going to get wet anyway!


Chatting to Mum and Dad before the race, looking and feeling quite relaxed.

I looked silly whilst I was lining up at the start. I like to stop talking to people in the few minutes before the start. I close my eyes, breath deeply and run through the race in my head. I got as far as the end of T1 but I just couldn't picture the bike ride.

Lining up in the water.

And we're off!

Mum and Dad looking on, desperately trying to work out which yellow hat was mine. Years of seeing me compete at swim meets was no help in 800m of open water and 100 matching swimmers.

I took every one by surprise by the speed I was out of the water. I was the 13th women and the 1st in my age group!

T1

I have a big grin on my face as I leave T1 but it hides the nerves. I didn't feel as prepared as I could have been. In training I had focused so much on improving my run that I had let my bike slip. I wasn't sure that I could 'race' the distance, though I was fairly sure I would finish. I was also very concerned about eating and drinking enough. Hunger during the run would really make me feel bad and yet I can't run of a full stomach, it is a really fine balance.

The bike ride was a challenge. All was going well until about 1/3 of the way round when I felt my back tyre was sluggish. I stopped to have a look and sure enough, it had lost quite a bit of air. I took the wheel off to try and get a closer look at the tube but I couldn't get the tyre off. In desperation I decided to try to re inflate the tyre. I also thought that maybe I should have practiced with my CO2 gas inflater before the race! Luck was on my side and the tyre inflated. How long it would last I didn't know. An on looker came to help and I tried to say no but he wasn't having any of it. I only had to put my bike back together but when a referee drove past I thought that would be the end of the race.

In trepidation, I got back on my bike. I was so pleased to get to the turn around point but every set of tracks I crossed I flinched. Would my tyre handle it? I made it round lap 2 and was heading back into town, tired, when I made a bad gear change and lost my chain. Wearily, I got off my bike again, sorted myself out and headed off again. I just wanted to get the bike finished. My back was hurting and I was only just holding it together.

I was so pleased to see T2. As I said in the last blog, I wished I had spent more time checking out T2. I was pointed to my rack and the change went well but then I couldn't see the exit. I had to head towards the entrance to ask where the exit was.

Another smile for the cameras. I was so glad to start the run, but I was aware of how far I still had to go. Having the friendly faces of my friend and family really helped. I was smiling for them, I didn't want them to worry. But my smile picked my spirits up too. That first lap was uncomfortable. I ran along the promenade and round to the first aid station where I allowed my self to walk through the station. There were 3 aid stations per lap where I took a wet sponge and some water each time but I only allowed myself the run through that 1st aid station each lap. On my number belt I had four Honey Stinger gels that I would have every 30 min, religiously starting with leaving T2 (I had a fist of malt loaf, 1.5 energy bars and 1500ml of water and energy drink on the bike).

Starting my final lap, still smiling! During the run I kept an eye on the clock on the cathedral that I would pass 4 times. As I passed the clock on my final lap, I realised I had the chance of finish in under 6 hours. I still walked the first aid station but put my head down to maintain my pace. The next aid station I walked to drink some flat Coke, wary that I didn't want to get a stitch at this late stage. I past my friend and family at a different point, still on target. I shouted at them that I was aiming for sub 6hrs. I put my head and upped the pace. Passing through the final aid station I upped the pace again. I turned the corner into the cathedral square and the finishing line and started sprinting. The crowd started cheering and I gave every thing I had.

Finishing was the greatest feeling I have ever had. I had totally blown my expectations out of the water. I had done the training, I had put in the hard work and I had reaped the rewards.

An emotional hug with Mum.

An emotional hug with Dad.

In shock. I kept repeating that I couldn't believe how well I had done. I had my post race plan that I had told my family was just as important as the race plan. They took off my shoes and helped my into my compression tights, helped me on with my down jacket, put a hat on my head and feed me my recovery drink. I looked daft all wrapped up on what had turned into a beautiful afternoon but I didn't care. I know that I would start shaking with cold if I didn't.

We slowly made our way back to T2 to pick up my bike and T1 stuff that had been moved there. The back tyre was totally flat. How lucky had I been!

My amazing support team and me.

Thanks Guy's, I don't think I would have done so well if you hadn't been there. Your cheers and smiles seemed to be everywhere. Thanks to Mum and Dad for driving me there and back and around, for sorting our great accommodation and putting up with my moods. Thanks Suzanne for coming over from Frankfurt and taking such amazing photo's. It has taken me longer than the race to upload them all!

Final results...

108 women took part, I was 70th

I was 13th out of the swim, 1st in my age group

78th on the Bike, 18th in my age group

78th on the Run, 19th in my age group (though this also includes T2)

738th out of 855 completer's, 70th women out of 108, 17th in my age group out of 19.

Final word..

On walking back to T2 after the race I pointed some thing out to Dad.

"Dad" I said, "there is something I haven't said yet"

"What is that?" Asked my Dad

"I've not said I'm never doing it again"

"Yes, I had noticed that"

Watch this space!

Antwerp race report - Day before

Picking up my registration pack

My goody bag - I was quite impressed!

Checking out the bike and run routes. We later went out in the car and drove what we could. The bike was flat, other than a couple of motorway and railway bridges. Lots of tram and train rails to cross though and the potential to be quite exposed. The run through the town was flat as a pancake but fairly twisty and cobbley.

The swim. I have done most of my open water training in the North Sea so I was hoping that this would be relatively straight forward. The difficult thing would be the amount of us swimming at the same time. The water temperature was 21 C. We therefore had the choice of whether to wear a wetsuit or not. After chatting to other competitors, I choose to keep my wetsuit on.

T2.

I should have asked more questions about this!

I really had to control my excitement today. In the end, I missed the pasta party due to faffing and Antwerp roads. I think it was a good thing. I would have got over excited and worked up. In the end, we went to a quiet little restaurant round the corner from our B & B and had spag bog. This meant I could have a relaxing evening sorting all my stuff out.

I went to bed totally prepared and relaxed.