Slatewoman; coming to a TV near you!

Pre race accommodation, what a view for £5 a night.

As I was setting up the tent on Saturday early evening, Mick, also racing the Slateman triathlon and occupying the caravan that looked slightly more comfy than my tent, was giving me a run down on the bike course, having just driven the route with his family.
Tent up, scenery admired, having heard Mick's bike course descriptions "only a long drag really, not too steep" I thought I ought to jump in the micra and find out for myself what this bike course was about.

Well, yes it's a long drag al right, not sure about Mick's "reckon you can do it in the big gear" statement!

A hearty evening meal is essential prep pre race, so I sat on the grass by my tent, with my pack lunch box, eating my pork chops, jacket potato and baked beans. Couldn't find the camping stove so made do with a tepid, aka heated on the dash board during the journey temperature.

Thanks Mick and family for providing me with some hot water from your kettle (advantages of a caravan over a tent) for my morning porridge on race day, and with that I picked up my bike, stuffed my wetsuit in my backpack and cycled the 3miles from the campsite to the race start in llanberis.

It's Spring, that must mean...

....SLUG WATCH! 
All you green fingered gardeners know what I mean...

Planting seeds, watering, bringing inside to escape the frost, putting outside to capture the sunlight (repeat and repeat!), repotting into bigger pots, tying to sticks as they flop over and being on slug watch! It has been a busy few weeks for us wannabe green fingered gardeners.

Below shows the progress of the vegetables in the Richards-Connell household....

Potting started off in the Connell's family garden and survived the journey in the Micra back to Leeds. Where broad beans, courgette, peas, spinach, fennel, tomatoes, broccoli are trying as hard as they can to become big and strong! I may not be Charlie Dimmock  but nothing beats pottering around in our little back yard, watering and mindlessly messing with the plants, a great way to relax.

In between being on slug watch and saving the courgette from the frosty Leeds weather a bit of biking, running and swimming has taken place. In the last few weeks I have kept out of trouble with the Sheffield Spring Road Race, Stockton Duathlon and John Carr 5km Road race.

*Sheffield CC Race 1 of Yorkshire Womens Road race series- 13th April*
Jenny and myself toed the line at Sheffield CC Race 1 of the Yorkshire womens road race series. 55km (ish?!) 10 laps of a road circuit, due to start at 10am. We had cycled a lap of the course, felt the savage headwind on one side of circuit and tested legs on the one hill. Ready to rumble. Commissaire late, start delayed to 10.30, then 11am. Finally underway at 11.30am! As there was a fairly large pack of girls racing, Jenny& myself decided to stay at front of the group, out of trouble & easier for cornering (good decision as there were a few crashes).

C is for....

"Cock-up"

noun, informal
1. something done badly or ineffectively
2.Another word for screw up or screwup; to err

"Ah yes number 164, you are not given a position on the result sheet as you were disqualified."
"Disqualified? for what?"
"DQ'd for a racking violation, bike was racked further than 0.5m away from the correct location, it was in 165s space, even spilling into 166. You were issued with a penalty to be taken in the penalty box on the final run loop, you failed to do this so you have been disqualified."

Disqualified at the British Elite Duathalon Championships, now that's a definition of a cock-up!

Photo's courtesy of Adam Connell   and Sue Pugh from Rockingham Race Track, Corby.

So I crossed the line 10th, but was disqualified, bummer.

Despite failing to improve on last years 6th place, 10th was reasonable in a field that was probably of higher quality than last year. Results here, highlights video here.

This got me thinking; what have been my biggest cock-ups? 

We are off, the 2014 season has begun...

"You don't need fancy gear, be nice to newbies, ride your bike a lot and Yorkshire is a fantastic place to cycle" 

Words of wisdom from Lizzie Armitstead, talking at a free event organised by Leeds University recently.

Having spent many an hour stood on the stairs, fielding off “what are you doing Suzie?” from the other tenants in the flats while completing calf raises with a back pack full of veg on my back and rolling my calves on a foam roller my Achilles has grown stronger and racing for 2014 has commenced.

First up, team Alba Rosa Cycle Club girls raced the first Criterium race of the year at

York. It is best to describe Crit racing as; fast and furious. You need elbows out, nerves at the ready, lean low into the bends, senses as sharp as a fox and wear warm clothes (even if it’s sunny, March is still chilly, I learnt the hard way in my short sleeve jersey!). I was purely using York as a bit of Crit non drafting practice for the British Elite Duathlon Championships, coming up this Sunday. Harbouring no personal ambitions, I instead designated myself sacrificial lamb, aka lead out girl for our strongest cyclist and fellow triathlete Seonaid. The plain was simple, make it hard for everyone, drill the pace from 5 laps out and Seonaid to kick for the win. Well it pretty much went to plan, minor a scare at lap 2 where Amy forgot to turn the corner and got closer than she would have liked with the grass verge and wooden fence, splitting the pack in the process, unfortunately I was behind Amy so ended up off the pace, thanks to Danica we pulled ourselves back to the front pack, normal service resumed and Seonaid finished like a boss taking the win, with 5 Alba Rosa ladies in the top 8  it was a successful day out. #albagirls

Next up Dambuster Duathlon, a standard distance duathlon (10km run, 40km bike, 5km run) I have been a regular at Dambuster Duathlon and triathlon for the last 2 years. My goal was top 5 overall and to win my age group. Previous years results have been…

2012= 4th in age group, 13th overall

2013= 2nd in age group, 8th overall

2014= 1^st in age group, 5^th overall

Dambuster is always one of the most competitive age group races in the country, acting often as the British Age Group Championships and World qualification race. Having almost got hypothermia last year through my poor wardrobe choice I dressed up warmer this year! Goal achieve, I didn't turn blue in the cold this year and I managed to upgrade to the big plate, winning my age group and placed 5th overall. Especially satisfying due to the limited running I had achieved beforehand, the 2nd run was a matter of mind over matter as I urged myself not to stop and walk due to an incredibly painful stitch. So another year another couple of places higher in the rankings, it is still on my bucket list to be 1st overall.

Did you get dressed in the dark?

"Nice outfit Suz, did you get dressed in the dark!?"

Antony commented on the cycle club forum, under a picture taken from an Alba Rosa Sunday ride. OK so maybe my outfit was a mix of clashing fluorescent colours, but in sub zero arctic like temperatures, fashion points were the last thing on my mind. Warmth, the only thing on my mind when getting dressed that morning!

Winter priorities are warm clothes and bright bike lights at the moment, for those pre dawn and post dusk winter rides.

"When's the next Blog Suz?" I was asked while riding the 1st reliability ride of the year, 80km in reliably British winter weather. Only good thing is the post ride shower....all you winter cyclists know that feeling of getting into the shower, still fully dressed as your hands don't operate to even un-clip your helmet  let alone take your socks off. It takes at least a full 5 minutes to regain feeling in your hands to be able to slowly undress under the hot water.

Happy 2014 everyone! My blogging contributions have been as reliable as ever! I could claim many an excuse, changing jobs and having to give back my laptop has left me writing with ink on parchment paper (well tapping away on the library computer!) Being  evicted by the landlord on 31st Dec, I think the number of muddy trainers and bikes in the garage had just tipped the balance from acceptable to "what the hell are you doing to my house"! He wasn't a cross country runner!

So with a new year brings a new job, new flat and new challenges. So here are some of the key events from the last few months, in no particular order:

Christmas is a great time to hone new skills, bit of golf and a bit of igloo building were high on my agenda... variety is the spice of life and all!

 When a sportive is called "Mills Hills" That means there will be plenty of hills and mills, generally more hills though. I think a more appropriate name would have been "Mills, Hill, with lots of Hills and a few more Hills sportive"8 

You have got to love Strava for giving you nice little cups afterwards, it's like a virtual mum saying well done and a pat on he back!

Usually at this time of year I am trudging around muddy fields enjoying the delights of cross country running, not this year though as I attempt to fix my Achilles that gave me grief over the summer months. Now with the advances of sports medicine, rehab can be a very scientific process. Well for me, this is definitely the case. As you can see, i fill up my state of the art backpack with heavy vegetables, a kettle bell, bags of rice and load it onto my back and begin my complex calf raising exercises! No frills Achilles rehab!

 So while some traditions such as cross country running have been broken, only the second season since I was 13 that I have not run around the British countryside in winter conditions in vest and hot pants. Other traditions over the festive season stayed well and truly alive. Boxing day is much about running races as it is eating left over turkey in the Richards household. This year was no different. Clevedon 4 mile road race, along the sea front was the destination, a chance to catch up with old Bristol Athletic Club team mates, training partners, coaches and friends. Most importantly a chance to beat my brother, a feat i have never managed before. He always gets the better of me, this was my year, I knew it. Race day comes, its icy, he conveniently has no deicer, so is late and decides to support aka shout abuse from the sideline. Scared of getting chicked by his little sister!? Sibling rivalry will have to wait till next year!