My big event for the year.

I like to try and do one big event each year; it gives me something to keep me motivated and a purpose to my training. This year I am representing the company I work for in the Loch ness Monster challenge. This is a Du-athlon , run and cycle, the course is around loch ness and I will be a member of a 4 man team, as the other team members are cyclist mainly I get the harness run and the easiest cycle . The total distance is 126km I think, the company is covering entry costs, hotel costs and giving me a day off work to travel to the event does that make me a pro’ runner now.

I will let you know how I get on, I have meet the other team members emmmmm wish I could have traded them for some of you guys. Back shift tomorrow so I will have to get my packing done in the morning.

ATB

Kev

Wow! generous employer, good luck Kev and looking forward to the race report.

Good luck kev. Hope you have a great time and all goes well. The TOP CAT and her other half!!

Thanks for all your encouragement guys, here is a link to the event for anybody that is interested.
http://www.firstmonster.com/

Ernie I work for First Scotrail, they are not too bad a company to work for, they expect a lot at times but on the other hand the package they give you is OK in comparison to some other companies. If you want a new job we can have a chat next time I see you.

ATB

Kev

Hell ‘n’ Back.
• As some of you know, I competed in the Loch Ness Monster Challenge. This is a 4-man team relay duathlon Event. The course is around the Loch Ness, starting in Inverness and finishing back there - a total distance of 120km. On the first 4 legs it is running in the main - off road on trails. The second 4 legs are the cycling legs; the first two off road on mountain bikes, the final two legs are on the road. The organisers stipulate that if you run the first leg you must cycle the fifth leg etc. This means that all team members get the maximum rest between their run leg and cycle leg. The legs are also balanced so if you get a hard cycle you get an easy run and vice versa. As I was doing leg 4, the somewhat ominously called “Hell ‘n’ back”, the hardest run, I then got leg 8 the final leg and the easiest cycle to the finish line. I was told my run leg would be 14km trail. It turned out to be a bit more at 10.2miles by my GPS watch. My cycle leg I was informed would be a 10km cycle, however it was announced on the evening briefing before the event that the first and last cycle legs had been extended; the first leg by 2km and mine to 14km. I know that my team-mate was a bit concerned by the extension to his leg, but in true ADAC fashion my own thoughts were “bring it on”- the longer the leg the more opportunity.

As my company sponsors the event they also sponsor one team to compete in it, so I was asked to be a member of the First Scotrail team. They paid all our expenses; hotel, meals, beer and wine. They also supplied a works pool car and rail travel to get us there and, of course, our entry fee of £70 each was taken care of. Shame they did not sponsor more events I say. Ha Ha. I had never met my team-mates before agreeing to do the event, but I was informed that they were keen cyclists more than runners. OK I thought, I will do my best to hold up the running end of the team if they can take care of the cycling. About a week before the event I was visiting our Glasgow office. I thought that this would be a good opportunity for me to call in and introduce myself as all three of them work out of the same office. On meeting them it was clear they were expecting me to be their number one team member. I have to say I had concerns that from the extra pounds these lads were carrying their fitness levels might not be up to the normal standard you take for granted as a club runner.

From the website I knew that my running leg was starting with a 3.5km hard climb followed by a steadier more undulating climb and then a big descent. I spoke about the event with my boss who had completed the leg for the team in the last 2 years but had dropped out this year to do the Glasgow ½. He told me he did a ½ marathon in 1:30 and I know his time for the 10 mile leg was 1:26. I concentrated my training on the 3.5km climb thinking that the rest would take care of itself if I had the strength and fitness for the big first climb. Hart Fell hill at the back of Moffat is 3.5 miles to the top. This was an ideal training route for my Loch Ness challenge run. I made a point of running it whenever I could. This was supplemented by running with Louise wearing a 20KG running vest again to add strength to the legs. For my cycling I knew my leg was pretty fast and flat. My house to Lockerbie railway Station is 9 miles so cycling to the station to catch my train to work and back again after work was the cornerstone of my cycle training. Not big miles I know by cycling standards but it did replicate the race route well.

On the Friday before the race I arranged to travel up on the train from Glasgow with two of the other team members, while John our 4th team member drove up in the company car with the bikes on board. Travelling on the train to Inverness gave the opportunity to talk to my two team members. We discussed what training we had done etc.

We met John at the hotel and tried to set the bike up as a best compromise for myself and William; the team member who would hand over the “baton” to me. William did not want the toe straps on as he wanted to pedal using his instep rather than the ball of his foot. I explained that he really needed the straps so he could pull and push on the pedals but he wanted to do it his way. I suggested he pulled the straps tight to keep them off the ground then pedal on the back of the pedal. That way, once he handed the bike to me I could undo them and use the straps for my leg.

Once we had sorted the bike as best we could we made our way into Inverness to register for the event. There were 3 pre-race briefings at 16:30, 18:30 and 20:30. It was compulsory to attend one of the briefings where you register for the event and handed your bikes over to the organisers so they could make sure they were in the right place the following day for the relevant legs. The briefing was the usual telling you want to expect, be careful not to fall over or off your bike or run too fast, etc. Two points that caught my attention were that you had to have a mobile phone on you and there were no watering points on any legs - you were expected to carry any water/sports drinks you might want on the leg. This was a slight problem as I had not brought anything to carry water with me while running. Oh well, I would improvise. After the briefing there was a free pasta meal for us carb’ up on, then we walked back to the hotel for another meal. Well it was free and we would need the carbs. After a couple of glasses of red wine - because that counts as fruit - it was early to bed. We had to be back in Inverness for 6:00am. The last bus left the start at 6:45am and the first runners started the event at 7:00am.

On the bus I tried to catch up on a bit of sleep because I didn’t sleep too well. To be honest I tend not to before any big event. My coach, once full, drove to our transition point. On the coach two seats down was a woman form Lochmaben.

At each transition point there was a marquee. Inside hot food was provided; porridge in the morning and pasta later in the day with tea, coffee, flapjacks, bananas, biscuits, water etc. All free. So that you could monitor your team’s progress there was an electronic screen that was relaying live updates. Outside the tent were two marshals with loudspeakers. The first one was about 100 yards from the transition changeover point and the second at the point. They would shout out the numbers of teams coming into the transition so you could make a swift slick handover of the electronic baton. The baton had to be pushed into a recorder to log your time before you handed it over to your teammate.

Watching the screen it was not looking good for our team. Our second-fittest member, the keen cyclist had completed his 10km trail run in 1:07 sec., leaving us in 193rd place out of 215 teams (one had retired. Our next two team members struggled also. I was handed the baton with us lying in 203rd place. Oh well, the only way is up - literally for me in this case as it was 3.5km climb form the start of my event. It was now raining pretty heavily too. Because I had nowhere to carry my drink, I drank half just before the start and put the half- empty bottle inside my compression top over which I wore my ADAC vest. I made a note to get my drink out at the halfway stage. It stopped there pretty well apart from on the downhills, but I had drunk it all before the big descent.

The climb was pretty hard. I used the Hill runner’s tactics of powerwalking the really steep bits to save energy for the flatter parts of the course and the downhill. I was only picking up the odd straggler at this point; I think I overtook 4 or 5 runners on the big climb. The trail path was quite wide on the climb. At about the halfway point on the course I started to run into, almost literally, bigger numbers of runners. The course was now a single track running through the trees; still climbing though. I was coming up behind runners fast. A quick shout of “coming though” or “excuse me” was enough for most to let me through, but the ones with a Walkman stuck in their ears were oblivious to me behind them. I soon realised that these needed a loud shout to get them to realise I was there and out of there little world of “Eye of the Tiger” or whatever inspirational tune they were plugged into.

The woodland path broke out onto a forest track; here you would have had a great view if it was not for the low cloud below us over Loch Ness. The Track was the normal stone track like the ones at Black Esk. I was flying downhill now, picking off little groups and single runners all the time. The width of the track made overtaking easier. I was now watching my time.

Before the event the other team members had said that they had a real good runner in the team two years ago - a former county cross-country champion - and he had completed the run in 1:15min. Also Liz McColgan, the Olympian, had run for them in the first year and finished the course in 1:12. I was pushing hard to try and go sub 1:12. Being at the back of the pack was good fun, getting to overtake lots of other runners, watching the gaps close between those in front of you drags you on and on. I find that in most cases when running other events, you find yourself with runners running at around your pace and you don’t get to overtake that many people.

The downhill had a number of sharp bends in it. Running around these as fast as you could on wet stones was challenging but by now the rain had stopped. Then a warning sign “Transition ahead”, round another blind bend and bang straight into the middle of the Transition area. A quick fumble for my electronic baton, dib it into the slot to record my time and hand it over to my teammate for his first cycling leg. I had just managed to go 1:13 - good but not quite Olympian standard; I had pulled our team up to 148th place.

I staggered into the tent to get a drink and feed to build my strength for my next leg. After this the call went out for us to make our way to the coaches that would ferry us to the next transition point. I was pretty shattered; I think I had been pressing harder than I realised. I had a rest in the coach as it took us to the next changeover point. The marquee was set up just the same as the other legs but there were rows of bikes set up outside. I admired some of the carbon fibre cycles which no doubt cost more than I had paid for my car. I was so tired I lay on the grass as I knew I had a couple of hours to spend before my teammate came in. After a short while the rain returned so I made my way back to the tent for shelter. A woman came in with a grazed leg and holding her arm. She had a fall off her bike. First aid attended then an ambulance took her away.

Watching the screen I could see our best cyclist had held our position but the other lads were dropping places. I got myself ready as I knew by the amount of bikes left my teammate should be in soon. The call on the loud speaker went out – “team 65, team 65 coming in now”. It was game on. I grabbed the baton off my teammate and took the bike. I went to put my feet into the straps, but none were there - he had removed them. I was not happy. I set off pedalling. This was my first competitive cycle and I tried to remember all the advice I had been given from everybody I knew that was a keen cyclist. Keep the cadence up, keep low on the bars. I was soon pulling in places. There was a big downhill on the way into Inverness then, with a sharp right turn round a traffic island, I flew down and round as fast as my legs would go. I passed more cyclists. There was one point where you had to cross the river on a footbridge. There were marshals there to make sure you dismounted. I ran across the bridge with the bike - my legs were like jelly. Back on the bike and a last mile blast into the stadium down the back straight of the track, over the finish line to a skidding holt in 31.57. My team mates were waiting for me to congratulate me - I had pulled us back up to 148th place. They were chuffed. We had finished 12 positions higher than last year. It turned out that my cycle ride time had been in the top 10% of times for the leg, just the same as my run. Well at least I was consistent. I was worried that my cycling would have let the team down.

You had to feel for one team, the person doing the same leg as me had checked out of their hotel at 2:00am on the Saturday morning with instructions left with the receptionist to tell their team mates that they had pulled out. Talk about letting your mates down.

In conclusion it was a great event well organised, I would like to have a go at another duathlon at some point, but I am not sure I would do the Loch Ness again unless somebody else is picking up the bill.



ATB

Kev

well done Kev, you must be well chuffed with that, and obviously were in your element on the 'hell n back' section.

That's a hefty dissertation Kev - I think Annadale Observer might edit to 'local runner part of Loch Ness duathlon relay team'!!!

Hi Ernie

I don’t think we would have called “Hell n’ Back”, tough run yes, but nothing on a Marathon for example, the down hilling suited me, think of it about the same length as the Moffat Gala run on the downhill but off road and a little steeper.

Andy it is only so long because I did a members report for the ADAC web site, then cut and pasted it here.

See you guys tomorrow.

Kev