WFC Runners: WFC Runners - Allen's Triathlon Adventures

News

This week saw 13 Fit Clubbers run at 3 different parkruns across the UK. We had Catherine and Allen at Peterborough, myself and Olivia at Mole Valley (see write-up below) and the remaining 9 at Winchester.

There were PBs for Karen (27:20) and Lynn (23:22) as well as some cracking pacing from Mike H who came in just under his target time of 22 minutes.

Here is the consolidated parkrun report: http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=26888&eventdate=2018-08-04

In addition we had 5 intrepid ladies doing a long run! They set off from Waitrose in Weeke with the intention of running to Hursley and back via Oliver’s Battery. Sharon (One R), Anne, Caroline, Jo H and MC covered the 10 mile route in around 1h55m. Fantastic training for the Winchester, New Forest and Baccus halfs that these ladies have coming up.

More long training runs will be organised in the coming weeks, so if you are interested please look out for the messages!

This week’s Thursday session saw 21 runners (including two mini Fit Clubbers) take on a very hot and sweaty interval session on Five Bridges Road. The session was 10 reps of various lengths between the bridges, it was hard work but the runners once again rose to the challenge and smashed out some superb running.

Read all about it here http://bit.ly/2n6nQvZ

28th July - Cotswold’s Lake 62 Triathlon - by Allen Westoby

A couple of years ago I entered my first triathlon 99% because of a bet with a friend about who would win in a race between us. That first event was Winchester Sprint triathlon (400m swim, 25km bike, 5km run) based at Kings School. Since then I’ve raced in Swanage and the New forest and this year is the first I’ve done more than one triathlon. Two or Three is the target for 2019.

Ever cautious, all my events to date have been the Sprint distance, as I wanted to get comfortable with that distance before heading up to Olympic/Standard distance. Standard distance includes a 1,500m swim, 40km bike & 10km run. I love the variety of the disciplines and would say for me that the run is by far the hardest of the three on race day. I was lucky to grow up as a club Swimmer and have never really stopped. I still train with Winchester Swimming club once a week to keep my swimming ticking over… the saying goes that a Triathlon won’t ever be won on the swim but it can be lost.

I’m not sure about how anyone else books races but I tend to pick the date before I pick the location. I find it easier to target a specific date/time rather than book an event and then find I haven’t had enough time to train! This year I did the New Forest race early in April so there was plenty of time to improve & increase my training distances to be ready for the end of July. The race that suited this plan was the Cotswold’s Lake 62 Triathlon.

The name of the event gives the first part of the race away… two laps of Lake 62 in the Cotswold’s Water Park was followed by a 39.5km bike and finished with a 9km run which was 6 laps of the starting lake. Many triathlons do vary in length for one or more of the disciplines, which is similar to other cycling or running events and I was happy the run was a little shorter! Catherine and I travelled up the day before and did a recce of the cycling route. I’ve done this at every event so far for a few reasons:

- I find it good to visualize the bike course the day before and the morning of the race

- Be aware about tricky road junctions or sections

- Know when to go faster on flat or downhill parts of the course

I was nervous in the days leading up to the race as they warned all competitors they might ban wetsuits for the lake swim. I’m not an experienced open water swimmer, but with the weather being so warm recently there was a danger some people could overheat in wetsuits, as the water temperature was around 26 degrees. Fortunately there was some slightly cooler weather the day before the race so wetsuits became ‘optional’… Phew. The swim kicked off in waves and I was the 3^rdwave. This was great as I got to see the first couple of waves go so I could see how everything worked.

The swim was a ’deep water’ start meaning you had to get in the water and swim out a little way into the lake before starting. This suited my tactics, as I like to start really fast for 30 seconds or so to get clear water. Some people can struggle if they’re caught up in a main swimming bunch, as there are legs, elbows and arms everywhere!! Two laps of Lake 62 later and I exited the water 4^thfrom my wave, still feeling fresh. Job 1, done.

On to the bike and onto a flat road course; I’ve spent a lot more time on the bike this year and know my limits. I stuck to a pace I’d decided before the race but was caught out when about half an hour in the bike leg the heavens opened and an absolute deluge of water hit me. As if the slippery conditions weren’t enough to contend with a wasp (possibly a bee) flew into my mouth and stung the roof of my mouth!!!!! Cue many MANY swear words. Not being remotely superstitious I suddenly started to worry that bad things happen in three’s. Rain after months of hot weather, a sting to the mouth… what next?!

A crash on the way into transition.

Full of confidence and bravado coming to the end of the bike leg and psyching myself up for the run I was carrying way too much speed towards the bike dismount line. To make the race fair, everyone has to get off their bike before a certain line. The dismount line at Lake 62 was around a bend, wet from the rain and dotted with gravel. I was caught off guard when I was fast approaching when spectators and marshalls were shouting loudly to mind out and slow down (other competitors had crashed before me). In a panic I tried to heed their advice but skidded when I breaked, slipped on the stones and ended up flipping over the bike with it landing on top of me. Fight or flight? Fight. In what was probably a massive kick of adrenaline, I picked up the bike ran into transition, changed and flew off at “kill yourself running” speed.

It took two 1.5km laps to calm down and finished the 9km run in 42 minutes which was slower than the wager I had with Coach James but I was nevertheless happy following the crash, thunderstorm and wasp. Despite the trials and tribulations of my first Standard distance Triathlon I absolutely loved the race and will be aiming to stick to that distance for future races. Hopefully they’ll be slightly less eventful than this one.

Mole Valley parkrun – 4^th August 2018 – by Coach James

Mole Valley parkrun is in Dorking on the Denbies wine estate. Pulling into the car park you can see row after row of vines stretching as far as the eye can see. It’s a very impressive sight. Just to the right of the main building there is a small field on the edge of the vineyard and it is here that the parkrun starts.

You do one lap of the small field before heading onto the estate. The course is a one lap route that winds its way up along the edge of the vineyard. The first half of the run is basically hill, followed by flat stretch, followed by hill until you reach the far side of the estate. Once there it is basically downhill to the finish.

The route is very picturesque with views of box hill and the Surrey hills as well as the stunning scenery you might imagine running through a vineyard. The route is all off road and is fairly uneven underfoot. Some of the regulars have said that it’ll be quite a challenge in winter!

It was a hot day and Olivia had said that she wanted to take it easy so we adopted a run-walk-photograph strategy from the start. Even at a leisurely pace the heat was getting to us and it made for a fairly tough run, even at 14 minute mileing!

We crossed the line a few places ahead of the tailwalker in 203 and 204^th place and immediately headed for the café. The café offered a wide range of breakfast food, snacks and drinks so naturally Olivia had an ice cream and I had a full English!

All in all a fantastic morning at a course I would recommend visiting in summer, although maybe not on such a hot day!

General Announcements

North Walls Rec Pavilion Appeal
There is currently an appeal in progress to raise funds for a new pavilion in North Walls Rec. This is fantastic news for Winchester parkrun as it will provide:

a store for our kit
a place to gather
toilets
a cafe
a meeting room for volunteer meetings

If you've a few bob to spare and love Winchester parkrun then please consider getting involved in the Pavilion Project crowd funding here: https://www.thepavilionproject.com/support/

WFC parkrun Club

Winchester Fit Club Runners is set-up as a club with parkrun. If you go into your profile (there is a link to it on the parkrun results email and newsletter email) you can select your club. Change yours to Winchester Fit Club Runners and you will appear in the consolidated club report that we get each week.

WFC Runners WhatsApp Group

There is a WFC Runners WhatsApp chat group where we generally just wang on about running, races and cake. If you are not already part of this then please get in contact with Coach James or Coach Mike who will add you.

WFC Runners Strava Club

If you are a Strava user there is a Winchester Fit Club Runners club page. This can be accessed here: https://www.strava.com/clubs/WFC-Runners. Request to join and we will approve!

Booking onto sessions

Booking onto our training sessions enables the coaches to plan the session accordingly. You can book on in the following location: https://winchesterfitclub.simplybook.it/v2/

Winchester Half Marathon - Volunteers needed!

Some of you may have seen the post by Lynn on the WhatsApp group about the Winchester Half Marathon needing volunteers for this year's race. The race is on Sunday 23rd September and needs over 300 volunteers to be successful.

By volunteering you get free entry into next year's race.

If you are interested please follow this link: http://winchesterhalf.co.uk/get-involved/win-city-marshal/

Race Calendar

Here is an updated race calendar. If you have any others that you wish to add, please let me know!

Salisbury 5,4,3,2,1 Trail Runs - 12th August 2018
http://salisbury54321.com/index.html

Overton 5 - 2nd September 2018

http://www.overtonharriers.org.uk/club-races/overton-5/

New Forest Half - 9th September

http://southernrunningguide.com/race/new-forest-half-marathon

Baccus Marathon and Half – 9^th September

https://www.209events.com/uk-running-events/surrey_bacchus_marathon_and_half_marathon

Meon Valley Express 5km, 10km and Half - 16th September
https://www.eventrac.co.uk/listed-races/meon-valley-express

Hursley 10km - 16th September
https://www.hursley10k.co.uk

The Lake Run, Andover 10km and 5km – 16^th Septembver