Sport

Our thoughts on playing, watching and appreciating sport

Race Report – Thames Turbo Sprint Triathlon

/ katieferg89 / 10 Comments

My answer now to the question ‘have you done a triathlon?’ can now officially change from ‘no because I hate swimming’ to ‘yes, I still hate swimming but the fun of the rest of it made it alright really’ . And by alright I mean quite fun. And by quite fun I mean I will probably do another one…

I picked Thames Turbo on the sole reason that my club was running a novice programme where this was the end goal.I also had several glasses of wine when I agreed to it. If I am honest, I basically ignored most of the training sessions and made up my own thing because a) marathon training took up a vast proportion of my time and b) I moved back home at the start of April and away from club sessions. Oh and c) I really don’t enjoy swimming in case you didn’t know that already.

Basically, there was a bit of googling and some laid back assumptions that I would get by. Actually, my training was pretty much useless if you want to think about dedicated triathlon training. I think I swam about once a fortnight on average and I just relied on my base running and cycling to get me by. I went to about one spin class and heavily relied on the fact that my commuting and every-other-weekend (ish) cycle legs would get me through (except for the fact that I stopped cycle commuting about 6 weeks ago). Oh and my first ‘proper’ brick in this block was two days before the race where I did a hilly parkrun and bashed around some Chiltern Hills for fun. I did no transition practice (but having done duathlons, not completely blind to it) and tested out my tri top on race day.

So, a potential disaster I hear you say?

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Review: Run or Dye – The World’s Most Colourful 5k!

/ Kate O'C / 1 Comment

We’re on a bit of a review rampage this week, here’s another one for you folks! This time it’s all to do with fun, fitness and flinging paint…

When we were emailed by the lovely people at Run or Dye to ask if we would like to run their crazy, paint-filled 5k in North London last week, we jumped at the chance! Given I’m not much of a runner at all, I was surprised that that was my reaction, but the thought of prancing around a 5k course to some bangin’ tunes whilst hurling powdered paint at K-Ferg just sounded like good, clean (or not so clean) fun, and a great way to kick-start my half-marathon training. So off we trotted to Cockfosters on a breezy but dry Saturday morning to join the throngs of other runners for some fun!

We were treated on arrival to some face-painting to get us in the party mood – courtesy of the ladies at Artyful, who had come to support the event – it certainly worked! Then we changed into our very own Run or Dye T-shirts; just by entering the race, every runner is given a free t-shirt, a wristband, some snazzy transfer tattoos and some powdered paint to get messy!Pre-Race painted faces

Soon enough it was time to get going. As we took our place at the starting hold, we were struck by the variety of people who were in attendance – from those who were there to try and knock a few seconds off their PB, to whole families including small children in buggies or being carried on shoulders – Run or Dye really is for everyone! We loved the fact that the staggered start was not done by predicted finish times. There is no elitism here, it’s truly inclusive and has a great family, party atmosphere as a result. The tunes were blaring (Katie did a lot of singing to Taylor Swift… gutted I didn’t manage to catch it on video), and as we waited to reach the start line the DJ almost caused a riot (I’m obviously massively exaggerating, but people did get very excited…) as he threw free gifts of sunglasses, tutus and packets of paint into the crowd, and then we were off!

The course was set out around some parkland, taking us over fields, pavements, mud tracks, through woodland and most importantly through the ‘Colour Zones’ where paint is hurled at you by some very enthusiastic volunteers! It was pretty windy on the day, so the paint had a tendency to just float away rather than stick to the t-shirts, but just running through a big blue cloud full of squealing people was good fun in and of itself.

Katie paint selfie

We made it to the end with big old grins on our faces, and a fair bit of paint in our mouths (it’s not the best tasting, but it’s totally harmless, and frankly you’re having so much fun you barely care!). I was so pleased to have actually run it without dying, but I was so distracted by the music, cheering and paint, I barely had time to think about the actual running. Runners, joggers and walkers alike, cheered each other on as we went, and there was plenty of support from the side-lines too.

Post-run paint

To top it off, you finish with a party – hooray! The DJ gets spinning and everyone bops away in a final flourish of a paint-throwing bonanza!

paint party time

For anyone who wants to run their first 5k in a fun and friendly way, this really is the race for you – and for all you seasoned runners, RoD is a fun morning out, and something a bit different to do with your Saturday, for £25 we think it’s a bit of a bargain!

More upcoming events from Run or Dye:

30 May – Exeter, Great Fulford
6 June – Liverpool, Aintree Racecourse
27 June – Cheshire, Cholmondeley Castle
5 July – Kent, Penshurst Place
11 July – Bournemouth, Kings Park
18 July – Perth, Scone Palace
25 July – Ipswich, Chantry Park
1 August – North Yorkshire, Castle Howard
5 September – Paris, l’Hippodrome de Chantilly
12 September – Galway, Ireland, Lough Cutra Castle
26 September – Oxford, Cornbury Park
3 October – South London, Hever Castle
10 October – Derbyshire, Chatsworth House
18 October – Edinburgh, Hopetoun House

10 questions I have for people who actually know things about triathlon

/ katieferg89 / 4 Comments

As I am sure I have mentioned before, I will be participating in my first triathlon on the 25th May (if any of you are at Thames Turbo, come say hi, I’ll be the one floundering around in the swimming pool and forgetting where they put their bike)

I’m no stranger to duathlons now and have learnt a lot along the way but the swimming part does add an extra element of complication to the matter. Which is why about 9 of the questions are related to swimming. Note here that I am also doing a pool swim, so I have avoided the other 1000 questions I have regarding open water, people kicking you in the face and how to actually put a wetsuit on. I could (and will) google these questions and ask people in my club, but it actually has helped me to write them down… Continue reading →

My London Marathon write-up – 3.33.24 PB

/ katieferg89 / 8 Comments

I’m still on a high from this. It was the start of what has been a brilliant week, and I am totally buzzing from a PB where I really was not expecting it. Caveat – 3 and a half hours seems to have blurred into about 10 minutes in my mind and therefore I keep forgetting who I saw where and what bits happened when so this write-up might not even be that good! I’ve also interspersed a few elite/celeb photos courtesy of my family (mainly because my mother wants me to marry Jenson Button which I feel might prove slightly difficult….)

After my last minute marathon prep, I woke up at 6, and managed to cross paths on the way to the bathroom with my sister, who was just coming home….and my parents were up shortly after to wish me good luck! Drove down to the station, parking super easy but the train was late AS USUAL THANKS LONDON MIDLAND.

Into Euston and then a quick hop down the Northern line to London Bridge and out to Maze Hill. I ate my bagel with peanut butter & banana at some point on this journey! It’s about a 10 minute walk UP A HILL to the green start, and obviously straight to the toilets. Had the usual chats with random people in the lines, with me explaining why I was still wearing my uni tracksuit bottoms despite having graduated 4 years ago…(they are super comfy and have really long zips up the sides so you don’t have to take your shoes off!) Bag drops well organised as per usual, but the second time toilet queue was just TOO long, so we all went and weed next to a tent. Super classy. Listened to the Paula announcements. Thought about how amazing she is. Hopped into my pen. Had a gel. I am one of these clever people who doesn’t own any form of race belt and I like to carry all my gels in my hand.

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Last minute marathon prep

/ katieferg89 / 1 Comment

Mentally? I don’t know where I am. I picked up 3.30, 3.35 and 3.45 pace bands and genuinely don’t know how it’s going to go. I’m not sure I’ve got the miles in the legs for the 3.30. I mean two years ago, March mileage, 182…this year…74. LOL. But that did finish off with a stress fracture whereas this year there have been about 4 or 5 full weeks off in my training cycle. After the Achilles faff I’m just shooting for a GFA which unless it flares up and/or I have a massive mental breakdown (entirely possible) should be achievable. 8.34s doesn’t sound that bad. But I know inside my mind I don’t want to ‘just’ GFA. 3.30 is going to be my nemesis and I’m going to keen having to take a bash at this marathon business until I get it (so the sooner the better really!)

I’ve had a couple of decent shorter races recently where I’ve really surprised myself with my grit but it’s a completely different ball game. I’m ambivalent about the weather – I’ve done a couple of my long runs in fairly grim weather (and hungover but that’s another matter) What I am worried about however is the hanging around beforehand in the rain. Bleurgh. Binbags it is. But apparently now it might not rain so WHO KNOWS?!

So here is what I got up to to take my mind off things!

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Foxtrot Oscar: When ‘Competitive’ becomes ‘Aggressive’

/ Kate O'C / 3 Comments

It’s confession time, chums. I played Touch Rugby with K-Ferg last night and did two things of note, neither of which involved scoring or assisting a try:

  1. Gave myself a touch of groin strain. Yum.
  2. Colossally overreacted to a man obstructing me by literally screaming “F**********CK YOOOOOOOOOU” in his face. Many eyebrows were raised.

I recently wrote a post (10 problems sporty girls will understand) where I stated that it annoys me when people, guys in particular, accuse me of being aggressive, when in fact I am just very competitive. My outburst last night however goes to prove that I can, on occasion, be quite aggressive, albeit contained to the sports pitch. But what I’m wondering is… why? Why does a competitive streak overflow from time-to-time and manifest itself as out-and-out aggression? Continue reading →

So, I’m pretty sure we shouldn’t scrap school PE…..

/ katieferg89 / 7 Comments

What are your memories of school sport and PE? Bitchy netball cliques, gym knickers and being forced to run around a cross country field?
Mine were anything but. Teamwork. Fun. Pride. Patience. Frustration. Ambition. Emotions, experiences and qualities that rounded my education and my personality. So why is it causing so many problems? How is it being allowed to fall by the wayside as the first ball to drop? You don’t let people skip maths because they just don’t like it or aren’t particularly good at it. So why are we frequently letting this happen with PE?

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Race Recap – Watford Half Marathon, 1st Feb

/ katieferg89 / 4 Comments

Slightly different angle on the blog. Less opinionated, more “I tolerate love running” like. In case you can’t tell, it’s not Kate writing this one! Feel free to skip or just to look at the pictures….

I’m in bed. I’m tired. I really want some chocolate Nesquik and some squash but I am too lazy to get out of bed. And I don’t think my sister will bring me anything.  But I survived, had a fabulous finish with my dad and just about avoided a complete breakdown at mile 12.5. Whether I’m happy with how it went or not is a different matter.

Watford is one of my ‘local’ races –  despite the fact I have now lived in Battersea for nearly 2 years, Herts is still home to me and always will be – and the timing falls in fairly well with my marathon schedule, giving me an opportunity to try a half near to MP to see if it’s actually possible for 13 miles, let alone 26.

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Girls on bikes and girly bikes

/ katieferg89 / 2 Comments

OK, OK, after my women’s rugby rant, I’m sorry but I’m going to have to do another one. This time it’s cycling.

Put “girl on bike” into Google images (potentially NSFW,depends on your filters…) and let’s see what comes out.

Apparently, when riding a bike, women should either be a)half naked draped over a motorbike or b) looking super happy, accessorised with a basket, heels or wedges and ideally a floaty dress.

I unfortunately don’t really fit into either of these categories.

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#isitok….to say women’s sport isn’t as exciting?

/ katieferg89 / 1 Comment

I start this post following an interesting day which sparked a few discussions around female participation in and enjoyment of sports that well, just aren’t traditionally female.

Firstly, I spoke with a well-known ex international rugby player and coach, whose first words were “sorry girls that you had to sit through all that rugby chat”. Well let’s say, it was a rugby-focused event. I like rugby. I thought it would be interesting. I wasn’t just there on a jolly to spend 45 minutes away from my desk. But why the assumption that 3 girls couldn’t possibly be interested in, or play, a game that is traditionally male?

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