New York Marathon (TACXtours virtual cycle race)

As part of my winter training I have joined TACX tours. It is an indoor online  race series for the TACX brand of turbo-trainers. The photo shows my training cave as it is at the moment although I am planning to get a new shed for my bike stuff.

Tuesday nights are Marathon Course nights and this week it was the New York marathon course. There were over 60 people from around a dozen countries racing on two servers. I had a fantastically close finish with a guy called Aldo. He chased me down with about 2k to go but I go him back in the last 500m.

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Training cave

I managed to average 300w for over an hour. My FTP (functional threshold power) was 290w but this run puts it up to 301w according to the Training Peaks software.

Results
Strava trace

The Rubicon Middle Distance (Ripon)

This could be a long post. I have done this three times and I love it. Every race has its own personal stories and this edition had a few. Check out the video below to get a brief flavour the race.

I was racing against my brother Robert and my son Sam. Neither had done a middle distance tri before and whilst Robert was only aiming to finish, Sam is competitive. He's a much faster runner than me but I am marginally quicker on the bike and I was expecting a close race.

The event is staged in the grounds of Newby Hall with its magnificent gardens and offers on-site camping which we took up. This took a lot of stress off the morning routine and although there were no showers the field was adequate for the event. The weekend also features a kids race on Saturday evening and a Standard distance, the Trident, this made the camping field busy with a nice family atmosphere. Mark tries to make the event family friendly and I think he gets it right.

Dam 'Ard Triathlon 2015

27th Sept 2015 

This is my local event, a sort of mid-sprint/olympic distance tri. The distances are 502m swim, 38k ride and 7.5k run. The finish and HQ are at Rishworth School near Ripponden, and the pool and transition are a few hundred meters away at Heathfield School.

The bike route goes over the Pennines and back on the rugged but beautiful South Pennine Moors and the run is largely Off road in the hills around Ripponden.

On the day of the race I turned up nice and early for an 8:00am start only to find my front tyre completely flat.

Las Vegas Marathon 2015

15 Nov 2015

Heading into registration at Las Vegas conference center you are greeted with a huge banner saying "You are kind of special, they're shutting The Strip down for you". And that sums up the race - it's totally Vegas, from the fact that it is a night race, to the Kid Rock gig at the start and the stretch limo courtesy of the Bellagio to the start.

There are three events on the Sunday, the marathon, the Half and the Half of the half, a 10k. In our group I was doing the marathon, Beckie was doing the half and Greg and Rachel were doing the 10k.

Hamburg Marathon

On the 26 April I finished my first race of this year. The.Hamburg experience was fun!. I'd injured my knee and then my back and hadn't run for three weeks. Joe the physio checked me over on the Tuesday and told me that a)I shouldn't do it and b)He knew I would and so he told me to try 10k on Thursday night and if I could walk on Friday I could walk to the start line. So on Friday I made the decision to fly.

I got to Hamburg on Saturday Morning (3.30am get up) and took the train into the city. I set off walking back to the Hotel after registration and promptly found a Bock Bier Fest. It would have been rude not to but on the down side there was not a beer weaker than 7% abv. Maybe not ideal preparation for a Marathon!

Race day dawned in a grey way and after all the usual pre race preparation (multiple toilet opportunities) the gun went and after 10 minutes us 4 hour people started our shuffle to the start.

I set off at about 3:50 pace and soon enough we were on the Reeperbahn, Hamburg's sinful mile. That was seriously seedy and I felt itchy at the end. I think if I'd run any slower I'd have caught something. From then the city had to get better and it did. Hamburg is a fantastic port city and once we'd left the center very green.

The Race was great with amazing crowds and bands which really helped. Samba bands were out in force and I love hearing them in a race.

I ran nicely for about 25km, my back and knee were fine but my quads and hip flexors were starting to protest and the trace tells the story. 30 km the heavens opened and I was feeling down. At 38 km I had to start walking, but I got going again over the line.

So that was it. I collected my medal and beer and headed back to the Hotel for a shower. It was slow, 4:20 but given that 2 days earlier I thought I wasn't going, not bad.

As for the Hamburg Marathon, would I recommend it. Definitely yes!