Pembrokshire Coastal Triathlon 2009

Debut in the Sea water was the start of this Triathlon. Suggest by a friend who liked the area, me and "The Daf" signed up without hesitation. The Swim required a wet suit and after renting for Bala Stand 2008 and suffering with ill fitting, I decided to buy this year to finally complete my Triathlon kit. After weeks of research I purchased the Orca £99 from Wiggle. Cheapest you could get but the reviews were very positive. A 6am start from home we arrived in Broad Haven for 8am to sign on. The Sea was flat and my nerves quickly disappeared. A welsh Grand Prix event the set up was very smooth and professional with a superb speaker on the mic talking about the Triathlon scene and the day ahead. The start horn sounded on the beach and in we went into the splash, 1500m swim which turned out to be close to 1900m after a problem with the sat-link. (35min.18sec 54th) Really enjoyed the swim with a steady pace to make sure I was comfortable, whilst taking the suit off on the way to transition the pain on the neck was unreal, thought id been stung by something, but turned out to be a wetsuit burn, ouch. Wetsuit 5*, but make sure I grease up next time. During transition I picked up the bike and then decided to put my shoes on, not recommended! The Ride was very up and down, with some long climbs, sharp twisty descents and one gruesome climb. Very gd ride (24th) and felt gd before the run. Put my new Saucony's on for the run and straight away i knew i was in trouble, the shoes were digging into my foot from the start, calf muscle tight and definitely pushed to hard on the bike. The first 3k of the run was on the coastal path, which on any other day would have been awesome but didn't enjoy the slippery narrow climb up to the top at all. This followed by tarmac road to the finish which included gradual climb and a downhill finish before 300m on the beach to finish to a big crowd(44th). Nice spread of food and drink at the end completed a very gd day at the end. Definitely sign up for next year. Finished 29th, daf 16th.

Aberdere 10k 09

Aberdare 10k, 5th July 09. Whilst staying at my sisters house in the valleys i came across this race on "runners world" and after reading some solid reviews decided to pop over for a jog. The race was held at aberdare Leisure centre but the start required a bus trip to the start at penderyn whisky distillery where we would then run back to Aberdare. The course was supposed to be very quick downhill all the way which would produce a quick time. A Solid field started strong especially the eventualy winner who would be untouchable. Settled into a solid pace which was just short from the 5 in front but was pushing away from the rest. The course was not completely flat with a couple of drags up some slopes but otherwise flat and fast. 4k-5k mark i knew i'd pushed to hard and the fact I had an all night drinker on the Friday night wasn't helping. Calf muscle started pulling again and I slowed right down at this point, 5 passed me. 2k to go mark I'd kept with the crew in front and found the legs again, passed 2 to the finish. Through aberdare town centre, a spiral slope bridge over the road then a lap around the race track. Really enjoyed the finish as i'd made it a a very tough race for myself. Gd crowd in the bandstand. Finished 8th 36.50m PB Previous (38.07)

*Note for self, make sure you put the chip on the leg, doesn't register on the arm.