It's been a while since I have been climbing. That is a mild way of putting it. A few years ago climbing WAS my life. Every single weekend, I would be gravitationally challenging myself by hanging half way up a rock face in some corner of the country (or maybe another country).

Because of my tendency to throw myself into things completely (all or nothing attitude, all the way), triathlon has become the 'new' climbing, and the past year of my life has been dominated by an unhealthy obsession with swimming, cycling and running. This means that climbing, the passion that once consumed me, has taken a back seat to the point where I haven't even been on rock for a year.

As I edge towards the end of the season, however, I decided to take a few days away in Cornwall for a much anticipated climbing weekend. The aspect in Cornwall for climbing is out of this world – steep cliffs, the sea crashing below you, the rock quality at top friction, and beautiful, rugged scenery. Perfect way to live your life.

As well all know, reality more often than not doesn't live up to expectation, and as I drove towards the cliffs in high spirits ready for my first day of real climbing in a year, the mists suggested otherwise, with a heavy, damp drizzle, 10 meter visibility and absolutely saturated undergrowth. For anyone that is unaware, climbing on wet rock is not exactly ideal (recipe for a death sentence).

We headed over to Land's End in any case and decided to attempt an 8 pitch route from the bottom of the sea cliff – around 150 feet of climbing. To summarise, it was wet, scary, slippy, and not a confidence filler. Not even close. After around 3 hours we topped out, much to the amazement of some wedding guests at the hotel on the top of the cliff, and headed back to the car for a well-earned sandwich (famished).

Day two was a similar story but after driving the entire length of Cornwall (no joke) in search of some dry rock, we settled on a crag on the edge of a village which had a random chapel built into the rock (although it had been a ruin for 200 years). Unique, but it was something. Which at this point, was better than nothing.

After faffing around for a bit as the weather was being a bit bi-polar, we started making an attack on some routes on the crag.  Five routes later and it turned out a rewarding day. Rock quality was awesome, even though the surrounding wasn't quite as epic as being on a sea cliff. More importantly, I had a smidge of my climbing confidence back, and that was what I came looking for this weekend.

Ultimately, it was refreshing to be indulging in something other than swimming, cycling and running for once, and to be challenging myself in less of a cardiovascular way and more of a mental way. Climbing is mostly mental (with a bit of agility and strength thrown in). To ascend a rock face involves logic, technique, and a lot of confidence. I think it's complimentary to triathlon, as it involves stamina, often endurance, mental discipline, and self confidence. 

I also think it compliments life itself (bold statement), because I truly believe that real life is lived when you push yourself outside your comfort zone, challenge yourself mentally and physically, and be so immersed in the natural world in the process. Confidence is key here, because if you believe you can do something, you really can.

 I have missed climbing, it is still a significant hole in my life while triathlon takes over, but I wouldn't change it for the world as I know that the rocks are not going anywhere. They are there, waiting for me, ready for my next challenge…
 

Robert Twells September 22, 2013

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Last tri of the season. This is it.

I signed up to the PruHealth World London Tri last year before I had even signed up for Ironman. At this stage I was so rubbish at triathlon that I just thought it would be cool to race the same course as the world's best triathletes at the London Olympics. It was *quite* a long time before the dawning realisation that it was a world championship final for age groupers as well hit me. I was what some fondly refer to as a "total punter". 

So in the run up to this event I had that awkward conversation where people asked me if I had qualified, and I had to explain that er, no, I paid for a ballot entry… Obviously if I had known I would have gone for the qualifiers, ahem! (Hardly. I was obviously focused on Ironman and not really gunning for Olympic distance fame!)

However, as the season evolved and I was getting faster, and still buzzing slightly from my win last weekend and my recent realisation that I can actually push myself past a zone 2 HR, I had a bit of a strategy for this race. I popped in to see my lovely sponsors Lovelo Cycle Works the other day and was asked about my race strategy for Saturday, to which my response was: "smash the s**t out of it". 

After a slightly shocked reaction to my abuse of the English language, I feel like there was enough of a mutual understanding to the effort I planned to put into the last race of the season. At the very least, I privately wanted a PB (which I was confident I would achieve) and top 10 in my age group (which I was also relatively confident I would achieve, but knew it would be tough).

Obviously I'm not competing with the world's best here so it may seem a little inconsequential, but it's small steps of progress for me. I wanted to go for it. My training had tapered back a bit this week in preparation for the race, and my nutritionist was giving me optimum fuelling to make me race-ready! You can read about my nutrition fuelling on the fitnaturally website 'What Amy eats' blog.

I felt sick on race day morning but with the rather unconventional race time of 12:10, I had all morning to feel nervous. This is actually worse, in some ways. But luckily my coach Steve Lloyd of Absolute Tri was down at the Worlds for the whole weekend, so after a coffee and a bit of banter I felt more relaxed.

Swim was relatively uneventful, the water was a bit colder than it has been this Summer but once acclimatised and after a quick start I settled into my pace. I think I probably could have pushed harder on the swim. It is the discipline which I tend to pace myself much more on rather than maxing out – this may be a good thing though! I was out of the water in 30:49, a PB of over a minute.

The transition was not good. After getting out of the water there was a run along the road for quite some way before running uphill on slippery, wet, muddy grass and with probably 2,000 bikes it was becoming quite treacherous under foot! It was also a long way from the swim exit which meant the clock was ticking. I faffed a bit and after almost 5 minutes (yes, it was a mission, all the competitors times were above average for T1), out on the bike (carefully, to avoid a Bambi style moment on the mud).

The bike was flat, fast but with tight corners and wet roads. Oh, and quite a few arrogant blokes with ludicrously expensive TT bikes but zero road awareness. I nearly crashed at one point as some guy with all the gear but no idea cut me right up on a sharp bend forcing me to brake sharply – I was very close to a crash there and after swearing at him I hope he was more careful for the rest of the course! I think I was only overtaken by two females on the bike but with different wave start times it wasn't easy to tell how far down the field I was. I averaged 20mph for the entire course (think it was just short of 40k, more like 37k) and kept my pace strong and my HR high! 1:08:04, another PB in the bag…

Another unacceptably long transition (think it was the muddy run uphill around the entire transition before they channelled you off to your bike slot), and with a new pair of Newton MV3s, I ran out feeling tired but staying strong.

Four laps of the Serpentine and a relatively good crowd of support, and at least it wasn't raining. I was doing the mental maths on the run, I needed to get a sub-45 minute 10k to get in under 2:30, and I was keeping a really consistent strong pace with 11-ish minute 2.5k laps. Again, I was only overtaken by two women but knew I couldn't go any faster with my HR pushing 178 the whole way. I knew it wouldn't be sustainable for too long. 

The final lap came and I sprint finished feeling strong but pretty knackered (slightly contradictory but I'm sure you can relate), with, guess what, a 10k PB of 45:50.

Overall my time was 2:33:14, a PB of just under 20 minutes (since June!). I'm happy with that level of progress in just three months.

Stats are:
7th in AG (out of 20)
27th female (out of 180)

Ok, so it's not the World Championships (yet), but I like to think it's about the journey, not the destination, that makes life most compelling. Because when I reach that destination, the sense of reward and achievement will be unbelievable….
  

Robert Twells September 14, 2013

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Winning. Well that's certainly a word which has never been in my vocabulary. As this triathlon thing is starting to get a bit more serious, though, I do realise that I may have to aim to win something at some point. So I did just that.

I had another relatively big-ish training weekend planned, as dictated by my coach. However, my bike sponsor, Lovelo, forwarded me an email about a local triathlon this weekend which was taking place in a village a few miles away (www.aldburytri.co.uk) I thought about it, wasn't hugely over keen on the idea, and came to the conclusion that because it is a local race, I probably should do it. So I emailed the organiser two days before and said I was in.

It's not even my kind of race. Firstly, I have been training for Ironman for a year. That means lots of zone 2 training, long and steady. While my endurance is now pretty decent, my speed is pretty non-existent! The last few weeks I have, however, been introducing speed work into my training to prep for London. Secondly, the swim was replaced by a row on a concept II rowing machine. Interesting. Low key isn't even the word to describe this event – it is very much a social thing rather than a competition!

Anyway, so I had a look at last year's times on the website and suddenly realised something. I think I may be able to beat the woman who came first the last two years running. A foreign concept to me. So, my new objective – to win it.

Race day dawned rather swiftly, I wasn't really taking it massively seriously but I thought if there was a chance I could win this little local race, it would be something. And it would most certainly be a first! Race strategy – absolutely smash it.

A friendly chat to some other participants and then we were off. I haven't rowed for about two years, but managed a 14 minute 3km row (first female off the machines in my wave), and off to get my bike. 

The bike course was very, very hilly, but it was all familiar terrain to me as forms the basis of my training routes. 25km in 54 minutes (like I said, hilly!), and I genuinely thought I might die as my heart rate didn't go below 170 for pretty much the whole course.

I knew I was borderline on the previous winner's times, so started out hard on the 6k run. That is, until the massive hill about 300m from the start. Ouch. Heart rate maxing out zone 5 I plodded up the ploughed field (yes, tough terrain yet again). We hit a road a bit later on and I was in my element. Hello 7 minute miles. Back through some more ankle-breaking ploughed fields and steep hills (yep, still tough) and I knew I was on to a winning run time of 31 minutes.

I finished feeling like I still might actually die, and breathlessly told the organisers that I felt the race was genuinely harder than Ironman. I'm not even kidding – I can go steady for 13 hours but 1 hour and 40 minutes of pain is hard to deal with. And it was serious pain, the entire way. I was in a hurt locker for that whole race. This speed malarkey can't be healthy…

I kind of knew I had won and the organisers later confirmed it to me. A few kids races and a BBQ later (very sedate, like I said!) and they announced the prize giving. I was shaking a bit, I have genuinely never won anything in my life! I was the proud bearer of a mug and a bottle of champagne, but most of all, a winning smile.

Ok, so it's not the Olympics, Kona, or even a mildly professional, serious triathlon (strictly speaking not even a triathlon!), but this is confirmation that my hard work appears to be paying off. Everyone has to start off somewhere, and I have a feeling this is just the beginning…..

 

Robert Twells September 7, 2013

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