Kilbroney Challenge

Off they are!

When the cat's away, the mice will play...

Well, my coach was out of the country, so I took this opportunity to take part in one of my other favourite sports: adventure racing. I love adventure racing, but my coach is afraid of me injuring myself on the run, which is often on open mountain and technical terrain. And he is kinda right, especially since I don't really do any running. After a bit of last minute juggling, I teamed up with friend and fellow MADster Sean Downey. I knew he'd be a great partner, and that we'd be well matched on the bike and run, mainly due to college committments having slowed him down recently.

Sean leading the run through some tough terrain

The race was a bike (16km) - run (2km) - bike (14km) - run (10km) - bike (7km) - kayak event, over open mountain, fireroad and sheep paths and with the kayak section in Carlingford Lough. It was mostly waymarked, but a little bit of navigation was required to not miss any of the control points. The plan was to go hard on the biking sections and try to contain the damage on the runs, which would always be my slower discipline.

Pushing the bike

We started off at 10:30 with a neutral start and then almost straight into a hike-a-bike section followed by some fast fireroad. With Sean doing all the navigating I concentrated on just riding fast. We made it into the first transition in 3rd position, but lost a good few places in the run, with a few of the male teams catching up with us. The run was straight up a steep mountain and straight down on another side, mostly off road over technical terrain. Sean was leading on the climb and descent, while I gingerly navigated over the open mountain terrain, careful not to trip or twist my ankle.

Clueless....

We got back onto the bikes and went really hard. We started catching up with all of the guys who had overtaken us on the run, so that we came into the 2nd transition again in 3rd place. A bit of a blip of not listening to the marshalls carefully meant we ended up at the wrong mast, but master navigator Sean figured out the mistake fast enough and we hadn't lost too much time when we reached the correct mast. The next bit of run was a great descent along the top of the mountains on an easy path. This was then followed by a more and more technical descent to a river and a traverse to an old farm yard. At the farmyard we had to solve a riddle which we managed in OK time (well, we weren't as slow as the first team ;)). This was then followed by a long boggy and energy sapping section uphill and back to the transition.

Sean riding along the beach

I was soo happy to be back on the bike at that stage! A little bit more of a boggy walk-a-bike section, and we arrived at the top of the mountain to start the last long descent. This descent more than made up for all the suffering before, it was great singletrack on sheep paths between ferns, and a really cool twisty proper mtb singletrack section in a wood before dropping us out back onto the road. A quick trip to the beach before returning to the race start, where we had one more transition to the kayak. Due to strong winds the kayak section had been shorted to a few hundred meters only, which was great, because I was so scared out boat would capsize, such high were the waves. The way out was hard against the wind and the waves, but on the way back you only needed to catch a few waves that brought you back to the start. With a smile on the face (on my part) we reached the finish in 1st position of the mixed category and 8th overall (out of 35 teams).

Carrying back the boat

I love the after race atmosphere and watching the other teams coming in. A good time was had by all afterwards in the yacht club, with food and drinks. Thanks to Rowan MacMahon and the Not the Sunday Run crew for organizing such a great race. And of course thanks to Sean for teaming up with me and not killing me on the runs and for being a great navigator and just an awesome teammate!

Arriving at the finish :)

More info about he Kilbroney Challenge can be found on their blog.

All pictures from here.

Results can be found here.

Race Report Irish NPS Round 7, Three Rock, Dublin

Up the fireroad (photo from Jarek)

It was a nice coincidence that my club's turn at organizing an NPS fell onto one of the weekends where I was actually at home. The race was to take place on my home training ground, 3Rock, which meant minimal preparation was needed (the start of the race was only a few km from my home). It gave me the opportunity to show my face again at the local race scene and catch up with everybody, since I haven't raced in any Irish NPS so far mainly due to other race committments. It was also a great opportunity to show off my new sponsored gear from Cycleways, which I picked up just the day before. I was also looking forward to ride my Epic for the first time in a local race, thanks to Cycleways replacing my rear derailleur + hanger on short notice - thanks Cycleways! Also thanks to Sean for adjusting the gear cable and gears the morning before the race.

Jackie, my competition (photo from Jarek)

I did my deed for my club by marshalling the sports race - which doubled as my practice lap. It was great to see so many new and unknown faces taking a shot at racing. The course was great, kinda barbell shaped, with some really tricky, rooty, flowy and in partly slippery singletrack on either end, linked by a fast fireroad section in the middle. It also took in a part of the mountain I don't usually cycle in, so it was great to add a few new trails to my repertoire.

Riding through the woods (photo from Jarek)

I was halfway through a building period, with a hard week's training behind me and another hard week ahead of me, so I was going into the race with already tired legs (and going to a party the night before didn't help much for recovery either). I was happy to see that at least one more competitor was signed up in the Elite women's race, Jackie O'Hagan, but she also came into the race with tired legs from taking part in a triathlon the day before.

Showcasing the new gear from our sponsor Cycleways (photo from Jarek)

Finally my race started. I knew I had a technical advantage over Jackie and started pulling away through the first single track section. My plan was to take it easy enough, but stay ahead of Jackie for the race - reacting to any attacks if she tried. Everything was going well and I was opening a good gap to Jackie. I really enjoyed the singletrack and was on the way back on the fireroad on my first out of 3 laps when disaster happened: my chain snapped! Damn, I thought, they had asked me yesterday if I wanted to replace my chain as well after the rear derailleur incident, but I thought the chain looked fine, so I kept the old chain. Well, lesson learned.

Just before a tricky climb (photo from Jarek)

Anyhow, while I started fiddling around with my tool to fix the chain again, all the Master riders started overtaking me, and finally also Jackie whizzed by. Eventually I got the chain fixed and I was back on track to chase Jackie. I was actually happy to have a rabbit in front of me now and put a bit more pressure on. I caught Jackie again halfway through the second lap on the technical singletrack and could relax again. I took it steady through the remainder of the race and Jackie didn't catch up with me again so that I came into the finish taking first.

Still smiling :) (photo from Jarek)

The best bit of these races though is the buzz after the race. MAD had put on a great feast of tea/coffee, sandwiches and cupcakes for the riders and even the downpour didn't dampen the mood when everybody huddled underneath the small MAD tent. All the riders seemed to have enjoyed the race, and I'm proud of MAD for putting together such a great race.

Big smile at the prize giving (photo from Jarek)

Pictures can be found on the following links:

• Jarek’s photos on Picasa
• Rory’s photos on Flickr
• Keith’s photos on Epicmtb.com
• Ian’s photos on Picasa
• Kate’s photos on Picasa

Results can be downloaded here.

Trek Marathon, Margam Park, UK

Margam Park Castle

Sunday was a totally different story. Since I am not eligible for the British National Marathon Champs, and we had to catch a ferry and I thought maybe I should take it a little easier, I decided to go for the fun half marathon option, 2 laps of 22km. I was feeling in much better form than yesterday and was looking forward to an "easy" race (all the good racers would do the Marathon Champs) without any pressure. I had absolutely no race nerves for it and even went for a last bathroom trip about 2min before the group of about 260 people riding the half marathon was set off, while Ryan was more concerned about me getting a good start position than I!

Thousands at the start line for the marathon.

So I didn't have the greatest start position, but was able to work my way forwards quite quickly. I wasn't aware of any female competition in my race that I could have a battle with, so I decided to overtake as many men as possible on the ride. The course was great and suited me very well, lots of long draggy fireroad climbing, just exactly my sort. I love getting into a rhythm and motoring up the hill. I had great fun on the descents and enjoyed this course a lot more than the NPS one. I was riding strong and had lots of "rabbits" there to overtake, especially once we started catching up with the other groups that had been set off before us. Since I hadn't pre-ridden the course before, I took the long last descent pretty easy.

Queuing

Towards the end of the 1st lap I noticed a girl on my wheel. She couldn't have been doing the 25km, since they've been set off even later than us, she couldn't have been doing the 100km either, since I would have had to have overtaken her. So she must be doing my race! Who was she? I was in a good mood and now definitely up for a battle. She didn't want to take the lead on the downhill but stayed closely on my wheel. Then, in the second lap I decided to opt the pace slightly on the draggy uphills and slowly created a gap between her and me. Then I started catching up with some of the women doing the national champs course, I knew then I was going well. I was really buzzing when I entered the last long downhill section and the girl behind me was nowhere to be seen. I thought from now it's only downhill and I am not letting her catch me again on this. I raced down the downhill and then disaster struck. I must have been concentrating hard on the trail ahead that I went too close by a large loose twig.

National Marathon Champ Sally Bigham before the race.

This twig then got caught in my rear wheel and I thought the twig wrapped around my cassette. I slowed immediately and glanced down, but couldn't see the twig any more. Thinking I've avoided the worst, I gingerly turned my pedal and noticed my gears skipping, but then, oh no! I heard some crunchy noises around my wheel which then stopped turning completely and puff!!! all my air went out of my tire too. What had happened was that my rear derailleur must have been damaged by the twig and then wrapped around the cassette, broke a few spokes and the spokes pierced through the rim tape, causing the flat. It was clear that this was a show stopper. The rear derailleur was so badly caught in the cassette that I couldn't get it out. This meant I couldn't even roll down the descent! The thought of having to abandon a great race that I was leading and having to walk down from the farthest end of the course to the finish was really frustrating. So I made my way down, with all the riders that I had overtaken earlier catching up with me again.

Having fun at the start.

So, maybe now it's understandable why I was a little reluctant to update my blog?

Anyhow, I am feeling a lot better now and have decided to take racing a little easier for the second half of the season. I will mainly concentrate on the UK series, the German National Champs and the 2 Canadian world cups. My result in this NPS has given me the much needed kick up my bum and I am very motivated to do well in the next British NPS at Crow Hill. Bring it on!!!

Panorama of marathon racers

Results can be found on the TimeLaps website.

Race report available on BritishCycling.

Race Report British NPS Round 3 - Margam Park

Before the race.

A week ago Ryan and I made our way over by ferry to Margam Park in Wales, where the UK NPS Round 3 took place on the Saturday, followed by the UK National Marathon Champs on the Sunday. While both Ryan and I went over, it was only I who was to race, since Ryan is still recovering from his broken collarbone.

Beautiful bushes.

The course was located in a castle estate with the added feature of a few almost tame groups of deer who also seemed to have an interest in the trails. I pre-rode the course on Friday in the most beautiful warm summer weather, and the course was nice and dry. While the climbs where mostly on fireroads, the descents lead us either through some huge flowering Rhododendhron bushes or high ferns. And there was also a refreshing river crossing. It was all in all a nice course, all rideable, with the singletrack sections demanding a high level of concentration.

Elite women just started.

When I got up on Saturday, I knew instantly that I wasn't going to have a good race. I tried every technique of mental motivation, but my body just felt heavy and lame. I still think the stresses of the last few weeks are taking their toll. In hindsight, I should have just taken a week or so off training, because then instead of missing a training session and feeling bad about it, I would have been able to relax. Anyhow, with no desire to have to put my body through this exhaustion I lined up reluctantly at the start line. Lining up against Kate Potter, who has arrived with great confidence due to her amazing Madrid World Cup result and most of the top UK racers, I knew it would not be an easy race either.

In the field.

Kate Potter lead the race from the start, whereas several other riders contended for the next few positions. I was sitting in about 5th place for most of the time, still having the riders ahead of me in my sight, but also followed closely by some riders behind. Then, towards the end of lap 3 of the 4 lap race my rear tire had mostly deflated. I kicked myself because I had the feeling that it had lost air since yesterday already, but did not bother putting any more sealant in. Another valuable lesson learnt: make sure your equipment is in prime condition. Thank god Ryan's wheels were waiting in the tech zone.

Just riding along ;)

Exchanging the wheel took also a little longer than expected due to having to unscrew the only skewer we had and to pump up the spare wheel (and yet another lesson there), which meant I lost my 5th place. When I got going again I wasn't sure if I could accept my bottle from the tech zone in which I was in now, so just to be sure, I left it. It didn't help to be out of water in this hot weather either. Thank god I had about a mouth full left in my previous lap's bottle. I was now riding at the end of the fast group and had Lily Matthews riding in 6th place in my sight, but I didn't manage to catch her again. So I finished the race in 7th place, meaning that I just about kept my lead in the British NPS series by 3 points ahead of UK National Champ Jenny Copnall.

Deer crossing.

Race results available on the TimeLaps website.

Race report available on BritishCycling.

Race Report Bundeslinga Round 3 - Heubach, Germany

It's always harder to write about a race that didn't go so well. At the same time, since Ryan broke his collar bone, time has been a precious commodity, what with driving him to various hospitals, doing all the cleaning, cooking, shopping, washing, bike stuff, work, college and training.

May tree in Germany

Anyhow, back to the Bundesliga race round 3 in Heubach, which was part of the "Bike the Rock" festival with downhill and XC races and a Trials Worldcup. On Saturday, I pre-rode the course with Swedish National Champ Alexandra Engen, which gave us a chance to catch up. Although it was mostly me trying to catch up with her as she blasted up that really long climb. The course can be described in 3 words: up, flat, down. In more detail, it was basically a long, in parts very steep climb on walking paths, some of it muddy and slick from the rain the day before (it was warm and sunny now), then a flat fire road/single track bit, followed by a long, pretty tricky descent. The descent basically swerved left-right-left-right... down a valley, bermed at each side. Then there was a little bit more climb before another tricky, switchback descent led us back to the start/finish area. The descent would have been great fun - if it had been dry. Unfortunately, it was super muddy, rutty and rooty and the more riders came down, the more it was being destroyed. Worse, it doubled as race track for the downhill race later that day, so the chances were that it would be even more ripped apart before we'd race on it the next day. My only hope was that it would dry out a bit more over night.

Profile of the Heubach Bundesliga course

The next day it was warm and the sun was out again - a welcome change from the crappy weather I had had so far in Ireland. We lined up and off we went. The climb had dried out a little bit more by that stage. I didn't have a great start, but was able to stay with Katherine O'Shea from TorQ Australia till the top and even overtook her on the flat bit before going into the long single track descent. The descent was as wet and slippery as the day before, just the mud had a slightly different consistency, and I thought it was even more tricky then on my pre-ride. I had been able to ride it OK in the pre-ride, but I wasn't quite prepared for the much higher speed I went down it now. And so I lost control over my bike at one slippy section, wrapping my bike around a sorry little tree at a very tight spot. There was a bit of chaos as the riders behind me got caught up in my bike that was blocking the trail preventing me to free it from the tree, and promptly I had lost a good few positions. When I finally got back on the bike I felt a bit of pain in my right hand, but went on and tried to catch up again with the riders that had overtaken me.

UCI Trials Worldcup was on in Heubach that weekend to

A few minutes further down I overtook Katherine again, who was trying to fix a mechanical problem on her bike. I went up the hill and made up one or two positions, but soon Katherine had overtaken me again. I tried to stay on her wheel, but my crash in the first lap had made me apprehensive and I lost a lot of time on the downhill section, I even walked bits of it!

Another skilled Trials rider

Still, I had another 3 out of the 5 laps to go and tried to catch people on the climbs. I had a few more battles with some girls in the next two laps, but nothing major happened. Then the downer: At the start of my 5th and last lap I was stopped by the marshals. Perplexed I realized that I was being pulled from the race! I could not believe that I wasn't going to be let to ride my last lap! I was gutted. And my little sis was waiting at the top to take pics and was wondering why I wasn't coming through any more. I was soo annoyed! I had never been pulled from a race before. And I hadn't been lapped either. They had applied the 80% rule. Needless to say I wasn't in the best mood for the rest of the day. I just couldn't explain it, I wasn't in absolute perfect condition, but I didn't feel I was going THAT slow either. Anyway, I blame Elisabeth Osl for going so fast, she showed an amazing performance in the race, finishing almost 5 min ahead of 2nd placed Irina Kalentieva. Looking at the lap times, I was shocked at how slow I (or how fast Lisi) was going.

Beautiful landscape on my ride

Well, one time is always the first time, but I hope it's not going to happen again that I am being pulled. Now I will concentrate on the UK NPS series and the national champs. Less racing also means more training. Last weekend was the first hard training weekend in a long time, with a short interval session on Friday where I met Arek to share the pain, a 3hour road spin on Saturday and a 4hour road spin on Sunday (thank god for the much needed good weather here in Ireland). The rest of the weekend was spent chilling and relaxing, something that had taken a back seat for too long in the last few months.

The next races now coming up are the UK NPS Round 3 in Margem Park this Saturday, followed by the UK National Marathon Champs on Sunday. I will do both races, but mainly concentrate on the NPS on Saturday, to try and defend my lead in the series.

This is gonna be my new background pic :)

Finally, as always, thanks to my sponsors Cycleways, TorQ, KCNC and Trinity College for their ongoing support and Ray from Australia for doing feed zone support in Heubach.

Results can be found on datasport.

My little sister tried to film while she cheered me on, here's the result: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5qictnMdZs.

Race Report British NPS Round 2 - Dalby: 2 x-rays and 1 broken collarbone

It's Saturday and I'm sitting in a hotel in the south of Germany, to take part in the Bundesliga Round 3 in Heubach tomorrow. Only now I have got a little time to sit down to report from our eventful weekend in the UK NPS round 2 in Dalby last weekend. Dalby was acting as a test event for a World Cup for next year to take place on the same course, so expectations for the course were high. And we were not disappointed. In our pre-ride we were confronted with lots of super-flowy bermy singletrack, heart-stopping drop-offs, breathtaking steep climbs and rooty grab-your-wheel-from-underneath-you descents. Names like "Worry Gill" and "Medusa's Drop" did not instill confidence either. But, although these descents looked scary, they were all ridealbe (given you've got the skill...) and with my new-found invincibility after having ridden the descents in the Offenburg-Worldcup I didn't even stop at any of them.

The Ladies waiting for the start

Well, my confidence might have tainted my judgment of my skill, because the 2nd time round this really nice course I took a line too fast at Medusa's drop and went off the trail and over my handlebars. I stopped my course of flight with my shoulder hitting a log and was trying to look like everything was OK when I got back up. But the pain in my shoulder! Smiling wearily at the concerned on-lookers I took the embarrassment and got back on the bike. Arggh!! Stupid something stabbing into my shoulder. Hmmmmm. Not good. I gingerly rode back to the start arena and got it checked out in the medical tent. I did have most of my movement (under pain) and no break was apparent, but was in bad pain from the impact (I must be such a whinger). And for some reason I had gotten a droopy shoulder, so just to be sure I was alright I was sent off to get an X-ray. I waited for Ryan to finish his lap and we went off to Scarborough. Thank god for pain killers. After 3hours of waiting for the X-ray and consultation, I finally got the result: nothing broken, just a bruise. Relief! Nothing that would keep me from racing tomorrow (with the help of paracetamol). Still in our cycling clothes we legged it back to our B&B, got changed and went for dinner in a nice Indian, Ryan giving out how much of a wuss I am. But it was good to have gotten the confirmation that everything was going to be alright.

Aussie talent Katherine O'Shea (Torq Australia) passing the feedzone

Next day we lined up at the start line for our 4-lap race. The star of the race was World Cup racer Australian Katherine O'Shea, who is currently touring through Europe to qualify for the World Champs in her home country. With Rosara Joseph and Kate Potter missing from the race, I had my bets on Katherine to take the top podium spot. However, adopted local NZ rider Jenn O'Connor (who placed 2nd in the first UK NPS) and local talents UK national champ Jenny Copnall, World Cup racer Sue Clarke and the up and coming Halfords talents Annie Last and Lilly Matthews all had their eyes set on a podium spot.

We set off on the grassy track around the start arena and I made sure to get a good position on singletrack entry. Katherine made it first, followed by Annie Last, and me in 3rd place. There were a few jostlings for places before disaster happened for a strong riding Annie Last: on jumping up a few steps into a single track section, she hit her rear wheel too hard off the rocks and immediately punctured. On hitting the Gill's Drop, the front 3 now consisted of Katherine O'Shea, Sue Clarke and me riding in 3rd position. While Katherine managed to pull away almost immediately, I was hanging on to Sue's wheel. Thank god my shoulder didn't bother me much on the tricky descents, only some movements (when I was going over steps or where I had to pull on my handlebar) caused a bit of a stab, but my legs were going well (the anticipation of pain was probably worse than the pain itself). I was hoping to be able to keep up with Sue Clarke, but soon she started pulling away as well. At least there was no immediate danger behind and I was hoping to catch up with her again on lap 3 and 4.

UK's Sue Clarke (SiS)

On lap 3 then, an unfortunate Sue Clarke punctured as well and forewent her 2nd place on the podium, and promoting me into 2nd. I knew that Katherine was too far for me to catch, so my aim was to keep my 2nd place. I was confident that I would be able to on a physical basis, but had to keep riding carefully so as not to puncture as well. Then, on my last lap, the cramps set in. I had almost no pain left in my shoulder, but my left thigh and both calves started giving me really bad cramps. I had to ride really smoothly and spin my legs fast to avoid getting bogged down with a bad cramp. I kept looking behind me, I was sure I was going backwards in that lap and that somebody would catch up and take my 2nd place away, but thankfully I made it to the finish line without being caught. I needn't have worried, my last lap was actually faster than my 3rd lap and the next rider in with a 3min gap was a very happy Lilly Matthews, who had reached her first ever UK NPS podium.

me :)

Then Ryan's race started. The men's field was high calibre with many top riders. The race was dominated by UK top rider Oli Beckingsale and Australian World Cup racer Daniel McConnell almost from the start. Ryan had a good race and was getting on well. After my last duty at the feed zone I migrated over to the finish line in the hope to get a few shots of Ryan finishing. I waited for a while and more and more riders finished. I was getting a bit worried when I saw slower riders finishing now too, and still no sign of Ryan. I was just thinking he would be really pissed off if he got a mechanical on his last lap when I was approached from one of the medics asking me to come to the medic's tent. Ryan had broken his collarbone - this time they were sure. And there he was, sitting in with his face in a pain stricken grimace, looking pale, with blood streaming down from his knee, elbow and back. Yep, now I really felt like a whinger after my fall the day before. Ryan needed medical attention fast and for the 2nd time we legged it (as gingerly as possible, Ryan screaming in pain in every corner and on every bump) straight to Scarborough Hospital.

Men's field lined up ready to go!

While Ryan was waiting to be seen, I had to go to the car park to pack our bikes, since we were still hoping to get the 8pm flight from Newcastle back to Dublin. As time went on it became clear that this option would probably soon not be an option any more and we called on our friends to figure out alternatives, while I was still working on packing our bikes. Eventually Ryan was released with 2 freaky looking x-rays, and a whole load of pain killers and we had to head to Leeds instead to try and catch the 10:20pm flight. Still in our cycling clothes we just about made it to the airport, bought the 2 of the 4 remaining seats on the 580£ Ryanair flight (VHI Plan D coming in handy there) and checked in, with about 10min to spare to gulp down a sandwich at the gate. With Ryan's arm in a sling and bandages around knee and elbow and me walking like an old granny since my back had seized up from all the lifting and bending down.

We finally made it back to Dublin and into bed, although sleeping was not going to be easy for Ryan in all his pain. A week later Ryan is now in a lot less pain and a lot more optimistic than in the first few days back, where he was basically reduced to sitting on the sofa and avoid any movement possible. It is still not clear if he needs surgery or not, he has got an appointment with a sports specific surgeon on Monday to see what he thinks. So, that was our eventful weekend, not one I'd like to repeat. But on a positive note, the 2nd place I got in the race promoted me into leading the UK NPS series and lifted me into the top 100 in the World Rankings - although just about: I am now ranked 99th in the world!!! :)

So, now I really need to get ready to pre-ride the course in Heubach.

Thanks as usual to our sponsors Cycleways, Torq, KCNC and Schwalbe for their ongoing support.

Results can be found on Cyclingnews.com or on TimeLaps for a more detailed analysis.

A report is up on BritishCycling and on IrishCycling.

Joolze's Photos can be found here and Rob Crayton one's here.

Body shut down.

I had decided to give the world cup in Houffalize a miss, so that I could have a short break from racing and a long weekend (Monday was a bank holiday) of training and relaxing and catching up with friends and get done some stuff that just hasn't been done because I haven't really been at home for a while. The plan was to get in some really long training sessions in the Wicklow Mountains, because I haven't done any long spins recently.

Well, it wasn't to be. The few days after I came home from Offenburg on Tuesday I was still fine, and I started going out on Saturday morning on the first of my long spins, but an hour into it I started feeling sh*t. Every little issue started to get at me, for example my gears that skipped a little or me not being able to ride over a small rock, my choice of clothes (I was a bit cold), everything. I had absolutely no motivation or power left to go on. I sometimes get these periods of extreme tiredness, so I called Ryan and decided to cut the training short and go home, relax and have a better session on Sunday. But when I was home, I just felt so physically and mentally shattered, I was wondering why I was doing it all to myself.

Why was I pushing myself so hard and for what? Why spend all this time and money on mountain biking and racing? I was hoping a good night's sleep would fix it, and tried to go out on Sunday morning, but returned back home after 50 minutes. And I was supposed to do 5hours! I had totally and utterly run out of every ounce of energy in my body. I had bonked. My body had decided that enough is enough and had shut down. Sorry, engine has stopped until further notice.



I tried to figure out how this had happened? But there are sooo many possible reasons. Maybe it was just the accummulated stress and tiredness from organizing the trips and travelling around the world for the last few months to go to races and trying at the same time to keep my PhD supervisor happy with my progress. Maybe it was my vegan diet that could have brought on a protein bonk (it's hard to get in vegan protein in Germany where they eat meat with meat). Maybe I was low on iron. I felt that this tiredness was at least as much mental as it was physical. I just felt sooo run down!

So, the solution was to tackle this on all possible fronts. First of all I went out and had a huge portion of beef for the iron and protein (me veganism is not due to some ethical issues, more due to my belief that a diet avoiding animal protein, especially dairy is better on your health in the long term, but I think I haven't quite figured out the right amounts of the right sources of alternative non-animal protein yet), took some iron supplements (might just be a placebo effect, but I feel it helps), had a nice relaxing walk and chat with Ryan and had another really early night.

The next morning I was still not perfect, but some of my motivation had returned and I went out on my bike to do a drill which I know makes me feel good (it's a drill I don't do very often and it makes me feel good because every time I do it, I get further, so you can see improvement). Then I went on a run with my good friend who understands the pressures I put myself under. Nothing clears your mind more than a good rant among friends on a mountain run. She's pointed me into the direction of trying some meditation to combat the stress. I've done a bit of research and think it's definitely an important component that I need to add to my life to keep the balance.

Anyhow, the combined effect of proper rest, nutrition, and socializing has had the desired effect and I am now feeling stronger and better and ready to take on the next challenge, which will be the next UK NPS in Dalby this weekend.