Alex McKibben Triathlon

Wild winds

2011-11-28T07:07:00.000-08:00

Blustery winds made yesterday's ride with VC Norwich a tough workout! Because of the flat and open countryside there was no escape from the buffeting. Now that its nearly December Im starting to really get stuck in to the winter training phase. However due to shin splints the run training has been a bit minimal and I havent been able to compete on the x-country circuit apart from the regional college x-c champs which Im pleased to say I won, apparently by a 400m margin!

Swim training is going well (at last), there is now a small group of us triathletes in the squad which means we sometimes get our own lane and much needed longer sets - sprinting is not for me! I am proud to say I passed the swim test to allow me to train as lifeguard, which required me to swim 50m in under 60secs!

Alex

Luxembourg ETU junior cup

2011-07-23T10:17:00.000-07:00

Raced my first international competition at the European junior cup in Echternach, Luxembourg, which was certainly a great experience. It was a non-wetsuit lake swim, technical 5 lap bike course around the lake and a two lap out and back run. I finished 10th which was disappointing, let down by a poor swim. I paid the price of not making the main pack out of the swim. However it is encouraging to see that if my swim was just 30secs quicker my race would be completely different.

I was a bit apprehensive about the waist deep dive start but surprisingly it went very well for me and I managed to stay at the front for about 100m or so. I hung on to the back of the pack until we reached the last buoy when I just lost touch with the group, I then lost 20secs in the last 200m of the swim. As a result I was on my own for the first lap of the bike with a lot of work to do until I caught 1 other rider and then another 2 at the end of the second lap. I tried to get them to work with me to make up some time on the lead pack who were working well together ahead but I ended up doing most of the work on the front. Hope they didn't mind me shouting shouting at them in English to work harder! Having towed them round I was NOT going to be pipped on the run, so pulled away from those 3 almost instantly on the run and managed to overtake one more but was eluded by the main pack.

All in all the experience was fantastic and I know what I need to work on. Its great to see British juniors performing so well in the European scene. Next up is British Junior Aquathlon champs at Hyde Park - no room for a slow swim there!

Roll on summer, time to clock up some serious mileage!

Majorca training camp

2011-05-01T09:32:00.000-07:00

Just back from a fab week of training with Steve Lumley and a great bunch of athletes in Majorca. Clocked up about 225miles on the bike including a great chaingang session and hill reps on the Lluc climb. The highlight of the week was climbing Sa Colabra, a gruelling 10km of climbing with some spectacular hairpin bends. The descent was terrifying and unfortunatley 3 of the welsh guys crashed. They had been pushing speeds of 40mph into the hairpin bends and Iestyn crashed over the barrier damaging his hand. There was some very nasty road rash but I'm sure they'll be back in action soon. Loved the 7am sea swims followed by a mega munch up from the breakfast buffet - I could get used to this! I'm yet to meet a triathlete who doesn't love their food!

British Elite Duathlon champs

2011-03-27T11:36:00.000-07:00

At last the British triathlon series kicked off with the British elite duathlon champs at Prestwold hall, Laughbrough today. This was my first experience of racing in the junior age group and we raced together with the senior women. It was great to be able to measure my performance with the likes of Non Stanford and Abbie Thorrington. It was a 5km run, 20km bike and a 2.5km run. I was pleased to finish 4th junior just 12secs behind 3rd place, 10th overall.
My first run was too slow but I was prepared for some serious work on the bike and eventually caught the main chase group in time to battle it out on the run. I need to work on my running but was excited to see that I had the 2nd fastes bike split out of all the females.
It was great to get a good result after a lousy xc season and some embarrassing galas but plenty of work to do.

Bring on the tri season!

Mud and guts

2011-02-06T04:05:00.000-08:00

Now the weather's better its been great to clock up a good few miles on the road. The VC Norwich 50mile reliability ride provided a good workout and great to see so many people back on the road. People expect cycling in Norfolk to be easy but the winds you get in this flat landscape make it quite a work out. When battling the winds I sneakily made use of 2 big team mates, Murray and Simon for an effective wind break! Thanks guys.
Enjoyed another gruelling x-country race at Parliament hill last weekend for the Southern counties x-c champs. The course starts at the foot of the hill and doesnt get any easier (or flatter) throughout the 5k. Its a really muddy course so there's a lot of slips and falls. After the first 50m your spikes are so clogged up with mud, they make no difference. I started off fairly steady and was pretty near the back at the top of the first hill but just focused on technique and relentlessly picking people off. The last 200m were a tough fight with a very close bunch, I slipped on the mud and 6 girls flashed by and I didnt have the energy left to react. I came in 33rd which was my best performance after a disappointing start to the x-c season. My team, CONAC won the U17girls over all.
Unfortunately I got ill soon afterwards which meant not only could I not enjoy Hampstead Heath's tasty cafe's but I also had to miss out on going to the Anglian schools x-c champs.
Cant wait to get my new Orbea Opal bike out on the road, it such a beauty! Im off to a bike maintenance course to learn how to look after it properly.

The season so far

2010-06-30T06:51:00.000-07:00

Well its taken me a while to get warmed up this season but at last I delivered a hint of the kind of performance I've been looking for at the Lakeside triathlon. This was my first attempt at a sprint distance triathlon and I placed 1st female and 9th overall. Although I won both Fritton and Waveney triathlons earlier this season, and placed 4th at the National Duathlon champs, Lakeside was the first time I really attacked it properly on the bike.
Blenheim had been a bit of a disappointment for me. Despite coming out of the swim in a reasonable position, I failed to make up sufficient gain on the bike to get into the leading pack. After a lap on my own I was caught by the chase group and battled it out on the run only to come in in 6th. However I took a lot of learning away from that race and got out with my bike team - Extreme Sports Therapy- to remind myself of what it feels like to properly work hard and go fast on the bike.
Lakeside was a great result for me because I had some tough competition in fellow HPU race team members Becky Hewitt and Harriet Brettle so the message was clear: I need to attack.
Eton, the European Youth Relay Qualifiers is my next race so there will be a tough line up. There's only one thing to do: attack!

Heaven in Girona

2010-04-30T08:31:00.000-07:00

What a week! The HPU training camp in Girona, Spain was my idea of heaven. I clocked up 425km of cycling in the Pyrenees with some fantastic climbs and terrifying descents. A bit different to Norfolk. We took on the Rocacorba climb, Oli stormed it up in an awsome 38.02mins and we all beat Lawrence Dallaglio's time (sorry Lawrence). The hotel was great with a 25m pool that provided a scenic post training ice bath.
All in all the perfect pre - season warm up.
Alex

VC Norwich 50mile reliability ride

2010-02-26T10:04:00.000-08:00

Set off on my first reliability ride and it turned out to be quite an experience thanks to some dramatic and rather unexpected snow. Having been slightly nervous about the ride I went with the middle group (which Im quite glad of because it sounds like the fast group really hammered it). The pace was fairly steady and I felt comfortable. It seemed like a reasonably dry morning until we got to about half way when it really started to snow. We ended up cycling through inches of fresh snow with very little visibility. We had to stop and agreed a rapid change of plan to call it a day at garden centre about 10miles up the main road. By this stage the roads were covered with thick snow and with no tracks to cycle in it was dangerous cycling conditions. When I was offered a lift a few miles from the garden centre I couldnt have said yes quicker! We reached the garden centre sodden and literally frozen with teeth chattering and had to summon rescue lifts back home. I think even the toughest of us would have needed a lavender bath after that! It was a shame we had to cut it short but I certainly gained a few bike handling skills from the ride.

We have blast off!

2010-01-23T02:53:00.000-08:00

First race of the winter! Norfolk decided to use one of the Ryston x-country races as the qualifier for the inter counties x-country. The original race was cancelled due to the snow and ice. Ryston is a beautiful place to run with hilly woods and miles of x-c tracks. This was my first ever 5km race and having done a tough day with the HPU the day before, I wasnt confident I'd be at my best. The race started with the only 400m of flat ground quickly turning into an undulating course. To my suprise I felt great and after about 3km I had unknowingly past the leading U17 girl. I finished strong and later found out that I had won my age group beating 4 people that I had never beaten before and was also 2nd female overall! Its great to see the technique work starting to pay off.

Good luck for the winter
Alex

Stepping it up for the new year

2010-01-23T02:37:00.000-08:00

Now its 2010 it really feels like the race season is looming fast. Only 10 weeks til the races start! It's time now to up the volume and put techniques into practise. I'm glad all the snow has finally melted. As much as I love the snow (especialy if it involves school closures) it has made training tricky. I only managed one good road ride when I went out with VC Norwich to see Norfolk turning into a winter wonderland. Only 3 of us turned up and it didnt suprise me that 2 out of 3 were triathletes. The other triathlete is a fighter pilot, fresh back from a close shave in Afghanistan! We managed a nice 50mile ride without any difficulty.

Ive been invited to join a bike team. The Extreme sports therapy team (who turned in an awsome performance at the Norwich 100) are starting up a female team. I wont be able to put in the cycling hours that they do but it will be good to get some fast group rides. I just hope I'll be able to keep up with them - those guys are fast!

Back to the University of Essex for another HPU training day with coach Dave Parry. Icy road conditions meant we were restricted to the turbos for a challenging churn up. We made good use of the university's extensive grounds in our running session. I went home on a high with that feeling you get from hard work . Its great to spend time with the team and to train and talk tri with fellow passionate triathletes.

Have a great 2010 - go for it!
Alex

HPU race team training day

2009-12-06T13:50:00.000-08:00

Another great training day with the HPU team at the University of Essex on Saturday. We kicked off with a really useful run drills session followed by a 2hr steady ride - coming from Norwich its useful to get some hills in though my cycling was a bit below par. The afternoon was taken up by a video and a chat on mental toughness with a clear message that we can all push harder if we can manage our emotional responses in training and racing. We finished off with core conditioning and stretching which seemed relaxing at the time but I sure felt it the next morning!

Swim clinic with BIll Furniss

2009-12-06T13:40:00.000-08:00

On November 22nd I went to a "swim clinic" with Bill Furniss, Rebecca Adlingtons coach. At £90 a head I had high expectations for the day. I liked Bill's attitude; he said either your swimming technique is perfect or its rubbish - there's nothing in between. The main focus of the day was on technique with sessions on psychology and land training. However they didn't seem to offer anything I had'nt already heard from Dave Parry (HPU race team coach) and I was really dissapointed that there was no 1-1 feedback whatsoever.