A blog following 2 friends as they train and raise money for Help for Heroes by competing in the epic Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon in San Francisco on 02/05/10.
Yesterday, we headed out for a good 50+ mile ride into the Surrey Hills, pretty average weather and we were definitely back in the warm winter gear after the amazing weather in Majorca 2 weeks ago.
With race day fast approaching we had planned to put in some hill reps on the nasty Crocknorth Road hill climb - with an average gradient of 10% and a maximum of 16%, it's great training for the hills of San Francisco, however the road was closed, but we managed to ride up and squeeze under the barriers at the top! After a ride on to Leith Hill, then Box Hill where we put in some hill sprints, we were both suitably knackered!
A big thanks to 2XU who are supporting us by providing 2 top of the range tri suits. We'll be racing in the 2XU Endurance suit shown above, it's perfect for races of this distance or longer. Next month we will be sending our suits to the printers to get the Help for Heroes logo and other sponsor's logos emblazoned on the front, you won't be able to miss us as we race through San Francisco!
Thanks again to Mike at Triathlon Consultants Ltd (2XU UK) and Jason at Sigma Sport for their support!
We're back after an awesome week of training at the RGActive training camp in Majorca. We joined approx 15 other triathletes and our coaches for a week of riding, running and swimming - and what an island to do all that on... Majorca was made for cycling! We were so lucky with the weather - enjoying sunshine and blue skies all week!
Here's a re-cap of our training week, with a few pics! Enjoy...
Monday
AM: First ride of the week to find the legs, we rode out from Pollensa to Cap Formentor, only 27.5miles but it packs in lots of climbing. A small group of us turned off on the way back to ride further up the mountain to an old fort - epic views from there! Ride time - 02:08:00
Rating: Med/Hard.
PM: Wandered down to the beach in our wetsuits - 6 x 250m circuits around the buoys, water not too cold after the first few laps. Swim time 00:28:00.
View from the Fort... Amy, Dermott, Ramsey & Steve (L-R)
Sea swim day 1...
Tuesday
Long ride day - we left the hotel in a big group for a long day's ride with plenty of climbing. After the first climb of the day from Selva to Lluc we started to descend over 600m over 10km of road to the spectacular Sa Colobra, a small bay village surrounded by huge rock formations (or as Ramsey put it... Lower Mordor harbour!)
A view from Sa Colobra...
Dermott and Ramsey getting ready to ride up from Sa Colobra
After a quick coffee stop it was back on the bikes for the long climb back up - a decent ascent time is 1 hour, we both had a strong ride up with one of the coaches Dermott, taking it in turns at the front - total ascent time of 45 mins, hard, hard climb but pretty amazing at the same time. Ride time 05:00:36, Distance 65.3 miles, Approx ascent 2000m+.
The top of the climb from Sa Colobra - sea level to 682m...
Wednesday
AM - Transition training & brick session. 4km bike/400m run x 6 @ 80-90% (race pace).
PM - Sea swim 200m warm up, followed by 3 x 450 loops at steady pace
Thursday
AM - Ride from Pollensa to Cap Formentor, lots of hard climbing at tempo. Ride time 01:55:46, distance 24.8miles. Ride followed by steady 10km run on tired legs along the coast line towards Alcudia and back. Run time 00:50:00.
PM - Sea swim 3 x 500m circuits with 200m cool down. Steady pace.
Quick photo opp with our H4H banner at Cap Formentor
Friday
Long ride day - we headed out from Pollensa and climbed up to Lluc, we were put through our paces with some hill sprints and lactate threshold work all the way up the climb - hard work!! After a coffee at the top we raced down an awesome descent to Selva and enjoyed flat miles through sleepy countryside and vineyards, after stopping at Sineu for baguettes we split into 2 groups for the return ride to the hotel (long & short). Ride time 04:30:00 Distance 65 miles approx. See video below for some ramblings at the top of the first climb from Dermott (aka Judith Chalmers).
Saturday
RGActive Team Triathlons - all athletes and coaches were placed into teams of 3 for 2 relay races. Team members had to decide which discipline each person wanted to do on each race, (this is where team tactics came into play), athletes could choose which discipline they wanted to do in each race but weren't allowed to do the same discipline twice. The first race was there to seed each team and calculate handicapped start times for the 2nd race (which started an hour after the 1st race finished). The course comprised of 400m swim, 13km bike, 3km run - Team Tri Stars (Josh's team) won the first race by a clear 2 mins and came 5th in the last race, whilst Ramsey's team came home 3rd in both. A really great way to finish an awesome week of training. Chillout time by the pool and getting ready for last night and Dermott's birthday celebrations!
Sunday
Final sea swim of the week in a 'pond flat' sea - best swim of the week, distance approx 1km.
A very hungover Ramsey looked on from the beach!
Last swim of the week... Barbie, John, Marsha, Josh (L-R).
So good to get a solid week of training in the sunshine - less than 40 days to go until Escape from Alcatraz Tri 2010! Recovery week this week, but we'll be back training hard next week!
Thanks to RGActive coaches John, Dermott, Marsha & Dave for a great week!
A chilly morning with piercing blue skies and bright sunshine greeted us for the first sportive of the year. Along with good mate and fellow triathlete Jules (aka Camel) and over 200 cyclists we tackled the long course of the Surrey Rumble - organised by Twickenham Cycling Club, it's an undulating 76 mile route through the scenic countryside of Surrey and West Sussex. We passed through sleepy, icy Surrey villages as we headed down towards Cranleigh and onto the first checkpoint at Wisborough Green (28 miles), then heading north we passed by Dunsfold (home of Top Gear), Milford and Puttenham until the second checkpoint at Seale (54 miles) where we found the most amazing cakes!
After a couple of photos for the blog - we set off into the headwinds for a fast, cake fuelled 22 miles back to the finish at race HQ in Cobham. We all rolled over the finish line together in approx 5 and a half hours - a great day to be out on the bikes!
Only one week to go before we fly out to Majorca for the RGActive Tri camp - so good to get some miles in the legs ready for some long rides on the island!
We've got a letter printed in this month's issue of 220Triathlon magazine... should hopefully get the word around and boost our sponsorship! Cheers 220!
Great training session this morning with a friend, Gerry - he's a very good triathlete, and represents Great Britain for his age group. Gerry has a great set-up in his garage... aka 'The Hurt Locker', and Richmond Park is just around the corner.
We started off on the turbo trainer - 5 min warm up followed by 9 x 4 min efforts at 85% effort/over 95rpm with 1 min active recovery between each one. My legs were burning throughout! As soon as we finished the last set it was straight off the bikes, trainers on and an out and back run into Richmond Park. We ran for 10 mins at 75% effort level then turned around and ran back at 85% effort level - so all in all approx 20 mins of running on tired legs.
When I jumped off the bike and straight into the run, I got that feeling in my legs that I've only ever had whilst racing - complete jelly legs, struggling to keep good form etc... This type of session is great race preparation!
Less than 2 months to go now until race day - thank you to everyone for all the support so far but we're some way off our £5,000 target so please sponsor us what you can... click here to donate online. Thank you, Josh
We are two friends competing in the epic Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon in San Francisco on 2nd May 2010 in support of Help for Heroes.
(L-R) Ramsey Conyers and Josh Roberts
We will be keeping this blog updated with training updates, fundraising progress, more about us and the amazing work of Help for Heroes. To sponsor us please click on the white JustGiving box below, every penny counts! Thank you for all your support!
