a legal high

so IMFR was pants, but I thought i'd worked out (for certain) some of my issues, and wanted to test them - on the cheap (relatively). I also wanted to try to put some demons to rest, so i picked a race i knew, in a place i both knew, and love. I entered the Big Woody. The race is in and around the Forest of Dean, the area in which i spent most of my formative years (as i refuse to grow up, it looks pretty boring). The race itsself is just short of Ironman distance, but keeps you honest in terms of effort with a small field (which would make drafting both very obvious, and a real effort, after about 8 miles I think I only saw 6 riders, although 3 of them were back markers on the 1/2 distance Little Woody who I lapped), and 'arduous' terrain. The roads I know very well, having ridden on them for nearly 20 years, and although it was a low key/low stress event, in the back of my mind was that Sarah raced here last year, was 5th overall, 1st woman and did 10:53 (17min quicker than my IM pb, and 20min slower than she had gone at ironman Florida in '07).

Training once again was ok, but not perfect, as we were very busy and as you, dear reader (both of you) know, my day is spent entirely standing, so no recovery at a desk ;) Biking was probaby a bit better than for IMFR but I missed a key 100mile TT as a i had a wondrous middle ear infection, running was still feeling good too.

The day before the event we had a notification of change of swim venue due to blue/green algae, the scourge of open water swims this summer it would seem! The swim moved across the Forest from initially within 5 minutes from where i used to live, to the Diving centre just north of Chepstow. The water there was brilliant, clean, clear and not too cold even though it is up to 80metres deep. As it was an old quarry we were also shielded from the rising sun so sighting the turns was very easy. With all this good stuff, there had to be something bad. It's an old quarry, and the water starts about 1/2way down, so we had about 400m to run up a fairly steep gravel track from the water to T1 - nice!! shoes a necessity, not just an option.

To start the swim i positioned myself badly, too far back, which i realised in the first 50m as a small pack formed infront and slowly moved away from me, so i was swimming alone for the whole thing (thinking i was off the back of the 'main group') I did catch a guy who was at least a lap behind on the swim which was a new experience for me. So the swim was short. I came out of the water in under an hour and i think in the top 10, so i wasn't off the back, i was actually in front of the group. The first guys were over 10 min in front of me though. T1 was relatively uneventful, but i made up at least one place, then onto Alice, and out onto the first section of the bike course. This was a 13 mile section of short, steep climbs before the long drag up through the forest to race HQ/feed zone and later T2/finish. As it was mostly uphill i was travelling light, opting to carry only one bottle until the feed zone where i'd grab a couple more. The first lap of the bike felt super easy, and at the clamber up the 1in5 at English Bicknor I was told I was in 4th position. That was quite exciting, but also i started to think that someone was right behind me, I did however feel more like I do racing 100mile TT's, that I was racing, rather than surviving and making up numbers.

The second lap of the bike went past much the same as the first, although the lack of TT's was starting to show in a shoulder (head of biceps) tightness. Sarah was at the 2nd aid station as she had been out on her bike getting some miles in, but other than that I saw no-one until i started to catch the backmarkers from the Little Woody, and I was still feeling good (High 5 is the stuff) and more importantly, my breathing issues were still very much under control.

Into T2 and i struggled like a mutha to get on my (obligatory?) 'schoolgirl socks' on, but once i actually fought my way into them and running, I felt a little tired, but generally very good. An amazing piece of timing meant that whilst I was on the 200metres of footpath beside the road, Simo came past on his motorbike (he had apparently been at home in Hereford, 30 miles away, on the sofa and thought "i should call Simo and check when he's racing" picked up his phone, seen my text message, thought "expletive expletive it's today", leapt on his bike and headed over.

The Run continued to generally go ok, the person I thought was in 3rd wasn't, and I actually ran into 3rd on the first lap. My bigger concerns were keeping an eye on the 2 guys behind me, one who appeared to be gaining, but then faltered from the second lap onwards and the guy behind him who looked super strong (fortunately I had more than enough time off the bike to keep him at a safe distance). The first time I realised I was in 3rd was when i caught 'supposed 3rd' and saw he was doing the Little Woody. The 3rd lap was the hardest mentally, even though the lads at the Fun Day opposite were playing superb Metal covers (The Trooper - Iron Maiden, Rock you like a Hurricane - Scorpions, etc) and they started Nightmare (Avenged Sevenfold), which on reflection was how the 3rd lap felt. Completeing lap 3 was a relief as it was 'just a short run' to the finish now, and even though my gastrocs were starting to cramp, mentally i was in a great place, even though i could berate myself for not asking Sarah for salt tablets. The last 1/2 lap had other competitors congratulating me, which was cool, and the final mile, which has a draggy uphill, felt easy. 3rd.

Lessons are: 1) Cooler races suit me - even though it was only about 14deg, my kit was caked in salt crystals. 2) I like to drink High 5 Isotonic (lots of it, citrus please). 3) gels like High 5 and SiS Go suit me best. 4) I need salt

Thanks to Sarah: support and personal aid station

Simo : coming out to watch, even though you knew you wouldn't be able to stay long

The folk of Black Sheep events : for putting on the event again.

and the marshalls helpers aid station volunteers etc for being there for us.