Survival Just Became A Race

The 2011 Durty Triathlon... The hardest race I’ve ever done.

The Dirty Triathlon is round 3 of the Scott Xtri Series and also the Scottish championships. The 1^st thing I’ll say about it is... I had a brilliant time however I was disgustingly unprepared for the bike.

For the 1^st time ever in Scotland wetsuit optional, a nice idea but only a fool would swim without one given the choice. Fairly Standard 2 lap swim, out of the water 1^st thanks to the Blueseventy Helix by around 30 seconds and swimming a little bit extra after trying to go the right way but being redirected by the kayaks...

Now for something a little new, my first mountain bike leg of a triathlon. The 2 lap course was brutal to keep it simple super steep climb where you couldn’t stand up without the back wheel spinning out, super muddy descent on the 2^nd time through cause of the sheer volume of people tracking it out with one technical section towards the end of the lap. This was my major downfall, I’m technically competent on a mountain bike and can actually ride most stuff but where the guys got away from me was the steep climb which just required so much raw power which I was lacking from not being able to spin a high cadence. Mountain bike racing is totally different from training cause at the top of the hill you don’t get a rest, much to my disappointment at this realization. I managed to make the first full lap without any crashes, but i was just saving them all for the 2^nd lap, when I got tired they just started one after the other. I still didn’t crash on any technical sections just the muddy parts so at least it was a soft landing and trying to overtake the slower riders from the shorter race. Here’s a quick section from the bike, it looks a lot easier than it actually was being tired and slippy hands from the mud.

Durty Tri Last Descent from Rory Downie on Vimeo.

Running of a hard mountain bike was unsurprisingly very hard ha. I was feeling good about my running though after doing considerable re-vamping of my technique etc. and ran strong the whole way which was worth the hurt. The easiest way to describe the feeling of the hill on the run is that feeling of finding a false summit on the bike in the Alps around 5 times. To top off the run once I reached the top of the hill it gets even harder and you run through a bog for around a kilometre sapping all the energy I had left but soon as hitting the trail again form returned and felt fast again till the finish. Easily one of the hardest 10km out there!

The general overall survival of the race was a great feeling at the end but the usual feeling of asking myself why I’m doing this but secretly loving every minute of it, I think all endurance athletes secretly like the hurt and it doesn’t matter where you finish as long as they experience the hurt.

I finished 8^th overall and 2^nd in the Scottish Championships. Not quite as good as I hoped, but I’m never happy unless I win and when I win I’m still not fully satisfied cause I want to be faster, but not bad for my first go at an off road triathlon. Strongly considering doing the next in the Scott Xtri series.

The Classic Hoogerland Look.. Not Quite

The mountain biking injuries continue...

Not nearly as extreme as the barbwire but the bramble bush did its damage, it looked a lot worse at the time with quite a bit of blood but already starting to heal. 

Next on the roster is the Durty Triathlon on Saturday, really looking forward to it. Nice to have a tough race where I’m not worrying about everything; Will I get on the right feet, will I make 1^st pack on the bike, will I be fast through transition and leave with the leaders etc. I think X-Tri and Xterra racing takes the competitive features of Olympic distance racing but removes all the rigidity that it comes with to create a free fast flowing adventure. Hopefully some good pictures and videos to follow. 

La France est Bonne!

What a weekend! Although I didn’t really perform to my full potential I had a brilliant time out in France. It was a really great experience. I got to meet the Triton Meldois Team who were all really nice.  The team is based around 20-30km east of Paris in a Town called Meaux.

First off all, everything did not exactly go smoothly  was a little worried when I landed that no one was there to pick me up but the problem was quickly resolved and from my limited French was a time zone gap difference  that caused the misunderstanding.  When I got to the club Presidents house I got a bit of a shock when opened my bike box and the rear shifter cable was unattached to the bike and clearly had snapped... how, I’m not sure. Quickly we made a break for the bike shop as it closed in 30min in the haste of trying to get there we cut a corner a little tight and caught the rear end of the van on a car, not a great start to my 1^st day with the team. So we go into the bike shop, the shop that sponsors the team so they were more than happy to help despite the fact the car we clipped was the shop owner/mechanics car, at this point I was feeling pretty guilty and a bit awkward about causing so much stress. However it all worked out okay and seems the French way to brush it off and thinking nothing of it. I quite liked this laid back attitude and makes everything feel/run smoother mentally.  

The guy’s team consisted of 4 members, 2 French, 1 Aussie and Me, a Scot. The two French guys Jean Baptiste and Fabien the team Captain both spoke good English and helped me understand what was going on and explained the course etc. The 3^rd member Stuart from Australia staying in France for the summer gave me an idea of what to expect and let me stay with him for the couple nights I was there, so big thanks to him.

Something I’m not really used to is travelling 5hours in a Van basically nonstop the day of a race which was a big shock to my system but something I’ll have to adjust to cause it seems to be how things work over in France. After the drive did my best to loosen off through my lower back and through hip flexors which are some of my troublesome areas after travelling. I was pretty eager to that the race as it was announced to be non-wetsuit which really suits me being a strong swimmer. The bike was a fairly technical 3 loop circuit of 24km and the run was a longer 5km I think with a mix of road and off road.

Just quick brief of the race. I swam average around 20sec down on 2 guys of the front but 30-45 sec up on the 1^st pack bit of a mistake to lose the 2 off the front but the start was packed (around 140 guys in a space that would be tight for 50 guys). I caught one of the guys off the front quickly who sat on my wheel and did not help... took around 3km to catch the next guy off the front and went through the 1^st lap as a small break away. Not long after the other 2 sat up and got swallowed up, being a bit over confident and naive I kept going and a couple km later got swallowed up and pretty spent but sat in the back and kept a good position round the corners. Into T2 in 4^th position but drank a bit too much juice (with a salt solution I hadn’t used before, school boy error...) on the bike and got stomach cramps so around 2km into the run lost contact and just drifted back, a bit disappointing but considering the lack of running consistency I’ve had wasn’t that surprising so big improvement to come.

No photos from the race yet but maybe some to come at a later date. 

My Bike Beat a World Champion

Ok, so all be it, I wasn’t actually riding the bike...

I lent my Time Trial bike to Ritchie for the last couple 5150 races in the series which has produced a 3^rd place in Liverpool and a win yesterday in Zurich! Congratulations to him, fantastic result running over 1 minute quicker than anyone else in the field! Also racing was my friend Fraser coming in 10^th in only his 3^rd race since October which I would say is not bad at all for a very strong field including the current Ironman World Champion, Chris McCormack.

Fast approaching is my 1^st French Grand Prix race. I’m really looking forward to getting out there and not only racing again whilst being in a bit better shape but also getting to meet the rest of the Les Tritons Meldois team! I’ll be flying to Charles de Gaulle, Paris on Friday and being picked up by another team member who I’ll be staying with before travelling to the race venue just south of Bourges.  

Back to Basics

Anyone can make someone fit run averagely well, but it’s another matter to make someone fit and be able hold that same form running at your limit off the bike. Not to jump the gun but I’m really starting to believe and know I can run so much faster than ever before and hold it.

It’s been a long, long time since I’ve really felt that I’ve taken steps forward with my running. To do this I’ve basically taken everything back to the very basics and working up re-teaching my body how to really run well. I’ve been working with my new run coach Alistair Russell, who has a huge deal of experience with top level athlete and I’m very excited and lucky to be working with him. The 1^st session we did was video analysis to see where I was at. To put it plainly I was horrified at what I saw, so immediately things had to change. From what Alistair saw and changed made sense why for years I was getting sore where I was and why I was never getting consistently and why I was pretty inefficient. 

Soon followed a much needed video analysis with my physio Stephen at Space Clinics, which brought up some areas I was weak in and that would not only make me more robust but allow my stride length improve, rotation become more fluid and synced which is key for increasing pace off the bike.

Trying to explain the changes are tricky so I’ll show some of my crude artwork. It’s really not good and a bit over exaggerated but still it’s the effort that counts right? Ha. 

Still there is a lot of work needed and I am by no means finished these were just the most obvious problems with my running, and still keeping things very much base aerobic and simple till muscle adapt, strengthen and re-learn the basics. 

Broken Ribs

While it’s raining outside and taking some rest between my double runs today thought I'd take the chance to explain how I managed to break one rib and partially crack another.

The night before the Stirling Sprint Triathlon, I wasn't planning to race but as a point of reference (5th June) other triathletes will remember the date. Was just meant to be a quick spin up and down Dumyat, the big hill behind the University of Stirling. I'd been riding my mountain bike for a couple weeks in preparation for the Dirty Triathlon which I'm still racing and really looking forward to the challenge.  After 2 weeks of riding I'd been getting really quite confident and taking quite a few more risks which I was able to pull off. Going uphill has never been a problem for me however coming down is another matter. I was following one of my best mates Chris down (he’s really great on a mountain bike) and to my surprise I was wasn't losing any distance  on him but my level of mountain biking isn't anywhere near good enough to sit close behind someone ha! We were coming up to quite a technical section that I've looked at quite a few times before  and my better judgement always takes me round the side on the grass, but today I was definitely riding with confidence and on a bit on an adrenalin high, it was a good feeling. The technical section came up on us really very quick and before I knew it I saw Chris in the air going over the drop and just thought "Fuck it" and dropped in. I landed it like perfect but wasn't really ready of the 3 tight bends between a couple banked outcrops. Sketchily made it round the 1st two bends but ended up going right into the last, with a slow motion over the handlebars bail. I actually landed on the grass with virtually no damage done, shortly after my bike tomahawked down on top of me and the back-wheel landed on my chest. At the time I just assumed it was bruising and got right back on my bike and continued riding down in a fair amount of pain.   

The next day I was really hurting but against my better judgement I got up and went up to watch the Fort William World Cup Mountain Biking. Being a student we decided to ride into the back of the race and avoid the entrance fee. We rode in down part of the red route, being in a fair bit of discomfort riding down and then walking virtually the whole way up off road. Things just gradually got sorer and sorer over the next few days before I went to the physio and for an X-ray. It’s been around 5 weeks since the crash and sometime when I'm swimming one of my ribs will still poke out a bit and  I can push it back in, bit weird but kinda funny when it happens, think it’s just the muscle are still really tight and sometime lock up. 

Chris and I at the top of the Downhill can’t say I was looking forward to the awkward vibrations impact walking back to the bikes.

Homemade Sports Science

This is the first video I've put together, its not exactly anything special. Some footage for my physio to see me running and where possible problems may be occurring that i can change now to keep myself on a roll and try to get some consistency back.

Running for Physio from Rory Downie on Vimeo.

Hopefully little bit interesting. Can see the treadmill is old tho ha, it speeds up and down randomly but making do with whats around.

Lost Track but not Forgotten

It’s been a while since I've updated my blog and it has been really hard to start again. To be honest it is hard to share what’s going on when you really don’t want people to know things aren’t going to plan. Recently things have not been going my way and it not been till now that I realize that it’s actually been a quite interesting, even if a little depressing part of my life and worth sharing so people know athletes aren’t bomb proof and go through ups and downs. So where to start, there have been quite a few different injuries from sciatic nerve problems to broken ribs, 3 bike crashes and 2 weeks, all of which have be virtually resolved now, just some minor things to tweak and should be back on track.  

First of all; A quick summary of Strathclyde. I had some sciatic nerve problems before the super series race which forced me to jog/walk the run, it’s in the past and I’ve taken what I needed from it. A Big thanks to Stephen at Space Clinics in Edinburgh who resolved this problem very quickly by breaking up my 4 hamstring muscle bellies, which described to me in the form of being like 4 sausages but all the sausage skins were stuck together and not working individually. This was causing my sciatic nerve to be continuously firing and not allowing my hamstrings to decelerate my legs. It was a painful experience or so I thought but apparently my pain threshold is just not that good, ha! But well worth the hurt for the end result. 

More recently I raced the Lochore Meadows Scottish Sprint Champs where there was some fantastic competition in the form of Fraser Cartmell making his comeback; even though he beat me convincingly it was really good to see him getting back to what he does best! And Graham Leitch who is just going from strength to strength. It was an interesting experience as the weekend before I broke 2 of my ribs, I was apprehensive about racing and even still as I stood on the start line I still wasn’t convinced I’d be okay, but the horn went and my competitive instinct kicked in ran in and was immediately on the hunt for Fraser’s feet. A quick story short, 2^nd out swim 2^nd off the bike. However 2km into the run Graham stormed past me looking very strong, but the feeling of a sledge hammer hitting me in the chest every step was enough to slow me down considerably. Finished 3^rd in Scottish Champs and £100 in my pocket can’t really complain for the circumstances and left with a smile on my face.

Anyway here’s a picture of the tape that held my body together and allowed me to race, thanks to Stephen at Space Clinics again!

Bit of a change to race plans for the next while. Still Racing with my French Grand Prix team on July 17^th but after that I’ll be racing the Dirty Triathlon (broke my ribs on the mountain bike but didn’t discourage me and still riding the MTB even though its risky its still so exciting and like a continuous adrenalin rush).

Thanks for sticking with me! Keep tuned bits and pieces in the works, with possibly some video blogs to mix things up!