Ballbuster Race, and "let's get serious"!

A couple of days on the lazy side, at least when it comes to postings on the blog… In terms of running I had a good Saturday… I had spent the night at Ben’s house and at 6.15am we left for the Ballbuster duathlon… Registration, one last visit to the loo, getting the bike ready, checking tires, sorting out transition bag, setting up bike and transition and soon it was time to start… Together with Paul we were waiting for the 8am start… A little bit apprehensive, ahead of me was my longest race to date, looking at my training times I would be doing this race somewhere between 3h45min and 4h. The last thing we did before going to the start of the race was to have an energy gel, I hope this would give me the energy I needed for the race!

My own goal was 3h45min, but also counting in the transition time I knew that this was going to be tough. Ben and I had said we would try to do the race together, but I also knew that it would not be easy for me to stay with Ben for something like this.

The race was off and we set off in a good pace, soon we had found a steady rhythm. This was going to be a long race, so it was important not to burn out to quickly. It felt good and after 20-25min we stepped up the pace a little and it felt good to be on the road. I could feel last weeks race in my calves, but not too bad, and I didn’t think it would be a big problem. We were definitely ahead of the times Paul and I had done two weeks earlier. After not too long the incline started towards the hill. I felt that we would have a good opportunity to come in under 60min. The hill started and we tried to balance not to push too hard and still keep moving up the field. In the end we did 57min, and then a 3min transition to the bike, including drinking a bit and having a banana.

On to the bike and Ben and I stayed together… I was just behind him and after just 3-4 minutes I drank from my water bottle. As I put the bottle back it slipped from my grip and I had lost the bottle! Now I only had 1 litre left, and that was not in the plan!! Well nothing to do but to push on. We continued to push hard and tried to climb up the field. The first lap we completed in 27min, 3min better then my first lap two weeks earlier. Mid way through the second lap I could feel my calves beginning to show signs of cramping and I told Ben to go ahead. However I stayed on his tail and through the downhill parts we both picked up places (probably more down to us not knowing what a break is on the bike, and the other riders being more cautious). The last time I saw Ben was in the beginning of the climb of the hill. I had to let him go if I should keep the cramp off my calves. The second lap I completed in 30min and now I was on for my last lap on the bike. I was not feeling great on the start of the third lap and was passed by a number of people… I came in on 33min and had done the 3 laps in 1h30min, which was 7-8 minutes better then in training. A 2 min transition and I was on the road for the last run.

My legs were dead, and I felt so rough. I could not take proper steps and for the first 20min people were passing me one after the other. I then felt a surge of energy and tried to think positive. I pushed on and thought of what Mo had said last week. When you are feeling bad, look around you and know that the people around you are feeling equally bad. I stopped at the drink station and had a couple of glasses of water. Pushing on I started to pass people and moving up the field. I felt good and before I knew it (well lets not kid anyone, I had been going for about 3h30min) I was at the start of the hill. I pushed up and felt that I could beat 3h45min! After the second turn I pushed harder and overtook more people, before long was the last turn and I knew I would beat my target! In the end I came in on 3h40min and 29sec!!

Heavy legs we went back to the car, loaded up the bikes and went home… I had planned to bike back to my house, but the way my legs felt I took the train… I think I had earned it ;-)

Ballbuster in the cupboard and to quote a now famous Governor it is now the time to get started for some real training… “Let’s get serious”… Namibia, here I come!