Pre RaceI'd entered the Scotland C2C way back in March when there weren't many races in the diary. At the Open 5+ Kim and I hatched a plan to recce the route on 14th August. The week before I started to think about the weekend and found the 'detailed' map wasn't really good enough to follow the route. A few emails to the organisers and Gary, kindly responding while on holiday, gave me a heads up on the route. Unfortunately Kim had to pull out of the recce so I figured a long weekend would be good Terrex training. I was late out of work on the Friday, which had the advantage of missing the traffic, so I was still in Ballahulish for 00:15. An early start for a cycle to Fort Augustus along the Caledonia Canal and I was ready to start the route. I left the bike in Fort William and nipped up the Ben before heading back to Ballahulish for a tranquil paddle over to the Isles of Glencoe Hotel. I drove up to Foyers ready for day two. Another early start and I cycled to Cawdor and ran to the start in Nairn. After a spectacular bonk, I wobbled back to Cawdor for another carbo load from the General Store, which perked me up for the cycle back to Foyers. It was already 4:30pm by the time I got back, but as it was a beautiful evening, I did an hour down Loch Ness. I was hit by a squall, so it was a much slower paddle back. Still, I made it home for a hour's sleep before work on the Monday.
Race Weekend
My build up to the race was balancing resting after the Terrex with some speed training and kit checking. My head was quite mashed and work was busy, so I only managed 1 bike, 2 running races and a kayak session in the 3 weeks, which meant my hardtail wasn't ridden for a couple of months. I kit prepped on the Thursday night with a plan to leave on Friday and kip in the car somewhere enroute. Joe had kindly agreed to be my support crew and was already in Scotland, so I was fairly free to travel when I wanted. After a long day at work on Friday I was too tired to drive up and decided to get an early night - of course that didn't happen and a restless night was over all too soon. Glasgow was very slow and when I finally stopped for some lunch on the A82, the traffic was too heavy to cross over for an M&S pasta pot, so I settled for a Shell sandwich - not quite the carbo hit I'd planned. I met Joe at 17:30 and we headed straight to Nairn to register. It took a while to find registration as the essential information didn't actually mention it was in the Nairn Community Centre and there was a surprising lack of hoardings and flags outside. Once registered we got some food and planned the race strategy. By this time Somerfield had closed, so we decided Joe could buy some fresh food while driving between transitions to supplement my supply of bars.
The Start
I'd kipped in the car 100m from the start, so roused myself at 5am and set about some crunchy oat cereal, a second helping and I was ready to go. I figured everyone would go off hard and settle into a good pace after 1km or so. True to form we flew off the start and I settled down to the max heart rate (170) I was allowing myself for the run. Ant came past after a couple of km and I ignored my breakfast sitting high in my throat to keep his pace until the castle. A moment of disorientation and I got to my bike and started to undo my shoes - klets knots are brilliant for keeping shoes on your feet without loosening for 24 hours, but they are slow to undo in transition! A swig of For Goodness Shakes and I set off on the bike. I'd lost valuable seconds and the group I'd come into transition with had about 400m on me. I closed to 100m but was working too hard, so settled into the HR cadence routine that served me well in the ironman, I was 5th fastest so it served me well here again. The High5 seemed to have curdled with my breakfast, so my stomach was painful in the aero position and I didn't take on as much food as I'd have liked. The kayak transition was busy and I took a while to find my boat and sort my gear. There were 5 boats setting off so I was keen to get on the water ASAP. Joe had made me a hot drink but it was too hot to neck in the time I was allowing for transition, so I jumped on the boat to try and chase down the pack.
Kayaking on Loch Ness
As soon as I settled down I realised my seat padding wasn't quite right. I tried to adjust it and lost a couple of places, so picked up the pace and took a few places back. Cramps were shooting down my legs so I couldn't hold a strong paddling position. When I was overtaken by another V10L ski, I tried to adjust the padding again - a big moment later I thanked my asymmetric paddles for allowing a big support stroke and I decided to stop messing about and make do with the position I had. I had water in my Buoyancy aid bottle and High5 on the back of the boat, but with the intensity of racing, there was no time to risk another moment retrieving the bottle. I had a couple of bars and planned a big eat at Fort Augustus. I was 6th fastest on the paddle and 5th out of the water, though I didn't know it, so the surf ski paid dividends. Getting out of the water proved a little fraught and John Laughlin rescued me as the boat teetered towards a large rock while I juggled paddles, bottles, padding and a buff. A quick jog back to dib after not realising there was a control box there and I was off for the run through Fort Augustus.
Cycle to Fort William
The rain was picking up as I got to my bike and a I was looking for a quick change get out ahead of Sean after battling to catch him on the paddle. Joe hadn't been able to buy any food and I picked up the part drunk FGS from the first transition so didn't get in as many calories as I'd planned. The bike started flat and I was still going well, but once onto the road I hit a section of the route I hadn't recced. It wasn't clear from the mapping (online or OS map) and this was a section of steep, muddy, gritty single track which immediately caused chain suck. Unaware of this section, I'd used a wax based lube which was unsuitable for the conditions. I was carrying a heavy duty lube but it was already far too late, the chain was coated in liquid mud and I was down to 3 gears. I lost a couple of a places to cross bikes and started to feel weak. My heart rate was still up at 160, but my speed had dropped dramatically. I pressed on trying to get through the section when the lead racer came through, he was making light work of the trail while I was deteriorating rapidly. On the descent I discovered when slicks let go, they really let go, and I had a close encounter with a fence before popping out on the road. My mental conversation finally worked out I was bonking and started the "you should probably eat conversation" (if you've been there you'll know what I mean, if not eating is strangely the last thing you want to do). Thure came past asking if I had any spare food, I was capable of saying no I needed it all, even though I had a full bento box and wasn't eating, I relented though and gave him a bar before waving him on his way and finally starting to eat myself. The rest of the ride was a slog, though I was relieved to find the singletrack I had recced wasn't actually part of the course and the cheery backmarkers in the Challenger field kept me going. My brakes also failed, which caused a momentary panic as I careered towards the A830. Coming into transition I was goosed and looking forward to sorting myself out.
The big trek
As I ran in there were lots of people milling around but I couldn't see any expert support area. Asking around I eventually established there were only a couple of places laid out and none of them were mine, stories of accidents and traffic suggested Joe hadn't got here yet. Some helpful marshals and another support crew started trying to round up enough food for me to do the next leg while I rang Joe. With no reply I started weighing up my options, running 24km in cycle shoes with minimal food or waiting in the hope Joe could get through. By this time word was spreading I had no support and JohnL again came to my aid running up to the expert car park to see if he could find Joe. Just I was hatching a plan to run the first part and meet Joe in Glen Nevis, he arrived with my pack and a bag full of food. I quickly changed shoes and headed out. By this time I'd lost another place and Chris Morgan was hot on my heels. I munched on an apple that tasted fantastic (thanks to the marshal who went on the food hunt and whoever donated it) as we ran up the summit path comparing notes. I eventually lost him as we headed up the West Highland Way, I was pretty knackered and couldn't run any distance, so was surprised to see him again as we came out of the forest. It transpired he had knee trouble, which balanced out our pace, so we jogged and hobbled to the high point of the route with lots of challengers for company, a couple of experts and racers passed us at impressive pace that we could do nothing about (it turned out a couple of very fast experts had got lost earlier on the course and were reintroduced further down the field, hence their relatively fast pace). I left Chris to nurse his knee on the descent and jogged into transition for the final paddle. I was fairly relaxed until I saw another expert about 200m out on the water so abandoned my boat prep, jumping in it and pushing hard to catch the slower boat. My stomach complained and I had to stop to eat a bar, as I was still low on energy. I steadily overhauled him feeling a bit like jaws creeping up on unsuspecting prey. The last run was painful as both my legs were cramping badly, but I got them moving and came into the finish reasonably upright. I was surprised to find I was 10th and had covered the 100 mile course in a time of 10:37.
It was now chucking it down with rain and I had minimal kit, so it was a relief to see Joe had got round the loch pretty fast. I took off my sodden cycle top and was slightly bemused by the clatter of gas cylinders falling on the floor - I'd carried an extra 1/2kg of bike kit for the final trek! After a shower and change at the hotel, we headed back to see the final finishers over the line and have a few beers with the fellow racers. Joe had to leave early in the morning so took and the car and I cycled back about midnight for another nightcap in the hotel bar.
The Morning After
Monday dawned grim, so I was in no hurry to head outside. I eventually set off and as I drove down Loch Lomond the sun came out so I decided to go for a paddle and work out why the seat hadn't worked. This morphed into an ascent of Ben Lomond in warm sunshine, which was a nice way to finish the weekend.
Reflecting on the race I'd have been very happy with 10th if I'd had a clean race, but as I spend my life telling people to eat I'm annoyed I didn't set myself up to get the most out of the fitness I had available. The course was fast and a good test, some work needs to go into transition logistics so support crews can move about efficiently and booking the weather would be a big advantage ;-)
Lessons
Calories, calories, calories
I've gone into cathartic detail on my diet for the race and written like this, it is blindingly obvious my calorie intake was nowhere near enough to sustain the pace I was going. Having a proper meal the day before would have helped, as would a sensible sized portion of porridge for breakfast. This would have set me up better to eat on the first bike. I should have had some foodstuff I could shove in my mouth at the start of the paddle and H5 in the accessible bottle to get calories in without stopping paddling.
If you can control an area of the race, do, leaving food shopping till the day is a exped race idea so it lasts longer - it isn't needed in a one day race and I should have done the shopping the day before. Transition food needs to be easily palatable for bike and kayak (dreaded bananas are back on the menu, quiche would have worked I think), for foot, something easily portable that can be eaten on the move.
Kit preparation
In the build up I was tired and working long hours, so yet again prepped kit too late to fully test it all.
I need quick release shoelaces for short run legs!
I thought I'd tested the seat combination I used in the race, but with hindsight the foam I'd tested was in my Nelo so not shaped for the V10 seat, also the height adjustment on the seat pushed me forward so the footrest was too close causing additional cramp. The extra water bottle was useless as I couldn't reach it without stopping and setting myself up, which would have taken too long at the pace I was going. Quote on my paddle from a multiple Olympian: 'you didn't say you were using the Kinetic! You need to change...now! Even wings used badly will be better than those.' - A good excuse to go shopping.
Why my bike failed so catastrophically isn't too clear to me, I hadn't ridden it for a while other than up and down the street, but don't remember any issues, so I put it down to the wrong lube for the mud and grit. Slicks were great but need a little care cos when they go, they go!
1:1 Support
This is a really challenging role which I think I need to perform to understand what information to give. I didn't learn the lessons of my Bob Graham Round too well: Never assume the support with have time to anything other than drive to the next destination. Provide complete packs for each transition, provide a checklist for each transition, provide expected times for each stage. I had a bag full of spare food and spare clothes in the car, but with cars being parked remotely to transition, these were inaccessible in the time I was allowing for transition.
I found I was full of adrenalin coming into transition and needed short clear instructions on what to do (your boat is on the right, your boat is on the right, keep going, keep going, keep going, stop look down etc). Kit laid out is an interesting one, if it is cold it is probably better kept dry, otherwise laid out for easy decision making. I like to know what is going on, Chris knew far more about the race than me on the final trek (who was leading, where friends where, what position he was in, what the weather forecast was) this is good mental fuel when I'm tired.
Transition
Did I rush my transition? I don't think so, I just wasn't efficient, klets knots, putting cycle gloves on before starting to ride, putting multiple layers on for the kayak.
Not emptying my bike stuff out went back to late change of plan. I swapped a bike bottle repair kit for a water bottle, so mentally hadn't planned to have any bike stuff on my body and so wasn't thinking about dumping it.
Mental
Doing the recce gave me a huge mental advantage, as I had no nervous energy being spent on wondering what the course looked like. The flip side of this was the poor mapping (sorry Nokia - Ovi maps aren't there yet for off road and the route plotted was offset against the basemap!) not giving sufficient detail to allow me to follow the correct route - double whammy with the bonk coinciding with the bit I didn't know undid all the advantage :-(
So lots learnt (and now written down so I might remember it in the future!)
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