Interested takes on Challenge Henley

catweazle

Good luck to our resident uber swimmer Interested who is out in Challenge Henley this weekend. The swim is around the Regatta rowing course so maybe he can break the rowing record as well with the swim!

Training looks very good with almost 400k swam, over 5000k cycling and the running ahem has been good as always

Race timing can be picked up here on sunday

http://www.challengehenley.com/

griffin100

Excellent, something to do when I'm bored of watching the Dubs kick some culchi ass.

It's supposed to be a tough bike corse as well!

zico10

griffin100 wrote: »

Excellent, something to do when I'm bored of watching the Dubs kick some culchi ass.

No wonder the rest of the country don't like you.

Good luck Interested, I wasn't aware you were once more going long.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

He will probably have all the pros following him out of the water:)

Izoard

The medals look pretty sexy...

All the best, interested!

griffin100

zico10 wrote: »

No wonder the rest of the country don't like you.

I wasn't aware that I was that well known

interested

Many thanks Catweazle - but Ive another while to consider starting or not - weathers really nice and theres loads of pubs along the route to watch people suffer from. Decisions,decisions

In reference to my running total - its still sept and I passed last years total already so ... With reference to excuse no. 17 - Ive been limping about since Kilkee with an achilles issue so after 5km of the run Im into new territory ... but hey,its not like a real run.

"It's supposed to be a tough bike corse as well!"

Did 40k yesterday on the main climb - nothing much to worry about to be honest - road conditions are fairly similar to home so - nothing like europe but they'll do.

" I wasn't aware you were once more going long."

Nothing I ever advertise since you really dont know how a season will pan out.

"The medals look pretty sexy"

Talk about denotivation images Ill be putting that with others ...

"He will probably have all the pros following him out of the water"

Unlikely - some fast fish in these parts - thankfully Im getting the chance to start with them though in the first wave so will be looking for one or more to drag me up the river for the 1st half. No idea of flow or speed since I decided it was too risky to do the practice swim in the river in fear of picking up a dose and went to the local pool instead.

Lads, enjoy your sunday - I plan to - Ive checked with the caterers on the run and their putting on a savage buffet for my walk

El Director

Good luck Interested! I hope it all goes to plan. Wave 1, no 161 we'll keep an eye out for ya!

pgibbo

Best of luck Chief!

NeedsTraining

Best of luck Interested

Macanri

Nearly missed this - Go get 'em chief!

Bambaata

Seems to be going well so far.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Nice 53 min swim and 3rd in his AG out of the water.

griffin100

5.44hr bike, 11th in AG - flying it!!

El Director

Well done Mark! 11:35, savage run split for a guy who could do very little run training! Hope you enjoyed it dude.

interested

Glad I contributed in some small way to sundays sporting entertainment for you lads. Truly entertaining day for myself as well - a spot of night swimming in the Thames to start, swimming the eventual winner directly into a bouy to deter him from playing with my feet, trying to cycle with frozen hands for initial hour, discovering initial 4 hours of nutrition was an unusual / unusable block of bulk due to it freezing together over night - and then the run ... cross country ... custom made for a fleet-of-foot run merchant like myself but hey, truly entertaining.

Bambaata

well done, sounds like you had fun ;-)

griffin100

Glad I contributed in some small way to sundays sporting entertainment for you lads. Truly entertaining day for myself as well - a spot of night swimming in the Thames to start, swimming the eventual winner directly into a bouy to deter him from playing with my feet, trying to cycle with frozen hands for initial hour, discovering initial 4 hours of nutrition was an unusual / unusable block of bulk due to it freezing together over night - and then the run ... cross country ... custom made for a fleet-of-foot run merchant like myself but hey, truly entertaining.

Thats the longest race report Interested has ever written;)

Well done, sounds like it was an interesting day out!

shotgunmcos

griffin100 wrote: »

Thats the longest race report Interested has ever written;)!

Indeed.

Well done interested Sir on a super performance. Entering T1 after a tussle with the Pros in the water must have set you up with a brimful of confidence. Very impressed with your run split, nice one! Very interested to hear what your thought are on the event itself?

pgibbo

Congrats again Mark. Hope the quads aren't too sore today. Must be great being up front with the pros. :cool:

catweazle

I think if i remember Interested wrote up a race report after Barcelona a few years ago - maybe he will break with tradition again when it comes to full distance and posts up another mammoth read. Its around the right time for me as regards a potential date so would be keen to see what you thought of it in comparision to Barcelona

Well done on the time

interested

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Indeed.

Well done interested Sir on a super performance. Entering T1 after a tussle with the Pros in the water must have set you up with a brimful of confidence. Very impressed with your run split, nice one! Very interested to hear what your thought are on the event itself?

Many thanks lads
as much as Id love to be credited with a 3.44 run time in the conditions I found myself its important for me to point out I didnt spend over an hour in T2 having a lie down ... pretty sure my run time was more along the longs of 4.43 or 4.44 - I use the word 'run' optimistically - but you do what you have to on the day with the cards your dealth.

Ill do my best to put together something about the race later in the week. What I would say is that some people DNF'ed due to hypothermia at the start of the bike - the roads were pretty much like north Dublin - the atmosphere was somewhat stiffled by bouts of very heavy rain. It was its first year - things will improve - but Callella v Henley - Callella every time. Course in spain would appear considerably faster too - a finisher yesterday told me he went 11.19 in Barca last year and went 12 something or other here.

interested

So, Henley,first challenge venture into the UK, a week after a fairly stormy IM Wales.

Location: Henley is a nice spot, steeped in sporting / rowing tradition. Accomodation was thin on the ground so - after alot of hastle - secured a b&b within a 5 minute walk of the finish. Unfortunately it was run by a psychotic russian lady - who insisted on discussing breakfast options and laughing out loud when I said '4am'. As I suspected, it'd be prepared chilli potatoes for breakfast again.

A split T1 and T2/Finish meant a 5am boat taxi to the start - clear skies meant it felt like close to zero out. A headtorch made wandering around prepping my nutrition on the bike easier and the obligatory queing for the portaloo's. In Sept, for morning starts, never leave home without one

After a 10 min delay to allow more light and the fog to lift (couldnt see a 4ft yellow vertical bouy 150metres away) and a false start that wasnt recalled I set off from the front sticking to the plan of taking a draft when I could upstream. Nothing too physical apart from one of the people drafting me attempting to peel the kinesio tape off the bottom of my left foot, so I swam him into a bouy. He dropped off a bit after that which made things more comfortable.

The return trip down stream was uneventful, I was just off the back of a couple of swimmers and thought better of bridging since it was going to be a long day. Entering the changing tent, I heard my name called for 53.** for the swim and was a little surprised since dont feel Ive been going well since May with the swimming.

With the temperature still low - frost on the grass as we ran to the changing tent, I put on my armwarmers and socks. By the time I got to 10k into the bike Id have paid anything for gloves - my hands were in pain with the cold.

The spin was good - 3*60k laps - and I actually enjoyed the 2 climbs since they helped warm up. On the first descent I decided to get stuck into my food - only to find ALL of my powerbars (4 hours with in 1/3 chunks prepared the night before) frozen together. Gel time, push on and figure out an alternative. By the time Id gotten up the second climb and out to the extremity of the loop - a 'grab me 10 gels mate, Ill be back in a minute' shouted to one of the Oxford tri club manning the aid station - saw me ditch the plan of 4 hours power bar - the rest gels - and move directly to gels for the duration of the spin. Eat,drink be merry - and focus on keeping HR low ... oh yeah, my HR monitor was not working either Id done nearly all my training by feel anyhow - so hey ho, get on with it.
Ended up with a 5.44 bike which Im happy enough with since I felt in good shape and with UK roads and the two climbs ....

The run started well enough but was obviously worried about my achilles. Id managed the injury since the end of June by focusing on long bikes and mid week 5k runs off high intensity turbo sessions.
Not moving particular fast but still running up to 16k - I headed into a portaloo for a pit stop since I was having pains in my back, knew I needed to keep drinking but noticed I hadnt gone to the toilet. That sorted, grabed lots of water and yet another gel from the nearby aid station and got shuffling again.

Dragging everyone past the finish line on each lap focuses the mind - picking up a different colour band as you went - once I had my 3rd one - I was all set - keep on shuffling - quads had given up during the second lap and every incline was hurting but to be expected. The run route was about 60-70% off road - through private fields which were a mixture of rough trail, sharp inclines and fresh paths through long grass a land rover had created and other runners had made obvious. Heavy rainstorms during laps 3 and 4 made things slippery as hell from time to time and I reckon if Id have fallen over Id have just lay there

Contrary to the initial results posted I reckon my run was in the region of 4.40 or something - and certainly not 3.44 or the like - it did make me laugh and reckon if I can sort out a muscle imbalance over the course of a year my running will be improve in some way so that I can finish off one of these races with a run time in keeping with the rest of my splits

Based on my injury Ive had all summer, the limited amount of time to prepare Im happy enough with my result. You get what you deserve most of the time. At the finish in henley, there was the medal, a photo and directive to walk back ... 500 metres to another building to collect streetwear bag, warm food and massage. There was no food there, little or no water - I did manage to get a massage and collect my bag. With the rain hammering down again I decided to skip town after collecting my gear (from an unlit field now soaked with rain on the otherside of the finish area) and head back to my sisters place instead of facing the B&B for a second night.

Despite the convenience of being able to driver ove for an event like this Id probably skip Challenge Henley if its on again next year - the locals have alot of clout and closed roads isnt the done thing in Henley if its not for the regatta if you know what I mean. Sure, it was its first year and yes the volunteers were great about the course on the day but hey there are alot of other options at this stage.

Hopefully this meets my quota for a report every couple of years Very best of luck to PGibbo finalising his taper for a trip to Callela in early Oct by the way. Ive no doubt he's gonna have a great day.

pgibbo

Nice report dude and thanks for the well wishes. No pressure!

I loved your "Nothing too physical apart from one of the people drafting me attempting to peel the kinesio tape off the bottom of my left foot, so I swam him into a bouy. He dropped off a bit after that which made things more comfortable." and "Entering the changing tent, I heard my name called for 53.** for the swim and was a little surprised since dont feel Ive been going well since May with the swimming." comments.

How's the body after the exertions?

The finish and post race nutrition sounds crap. I know what you mean about the residents over there. Have heard that more than once from mates that have rowed over there.

Long term forecast for Callela is 25 degrees on October 2nd. :cool:

catweazle

Nice one Interested and a rare treat to get some info besides the swim report. A good call out to Pgibbo also who should at least be expected to type up something similar for his race report on Barcelona

griffin100

Contrary to the initial results posted I reckon my run was in the region of 4.40 or something - and certainly not 3.44 or the like

Phew, thank God someone posted a slower 2011 IM marathon time than me on Boards, even if it was just by ten minutes off one third of the run training I did *

Nice report. Some good pictures on TriTalk of the river just before the start and it looks bloody cold. Lots of complaints too about the crap road surface and the late finishers missing the last river taxi and having to walk back in the dark to get their gear. Certainly sounds like a race not to be added to the must do list.


* that's a joke BTW, I know there are some sensitive souls here:D

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Enjoyed the report but i will also leave Henley off my list of events given the feedback. That B&B sounded quaint:rolleyes:

shotgunmcos

Good stuff Chief. You made light of what sounds like an event to avoid. Thanks for the report. It should be stickied to prove in future that it existed