May Madness.

Quite a lot went down in May. Selkirk Tri pointed out a few kinks in the armour and I felt the need to exploit good weather and lack of surf to focus on training. Longer races like Helvellyn Tri and Chevy Chase starting to prey on the mind a bit....

What better than another race to kick-start things? The Les Allcorn was an opportunity, a couple of days after Selkirk, and I pitched up on the spur of the moment. Quite hard to actually find the start amongst a sea of purple and green vests... Wooler must've been a ghost town that night. I had a good race. Bit of a ding-dong with Gordon Dixon of Morpeth, nip and tuck the whole way, but I found a sprint finish somewhere in my kit bag to take 5th place, 1st Vet40. We were both ousted from the 4th place we'd been vying for by a storming last 1/4 mile by Ben Davidson, who chose his moment to show the old boys how it's done. There were a lot of good performances recounted amongst those I spoke to post-race- Bruce C seemed delighted to have elbowed his way into the top 10 with a pb 3 mins down on his previous. Rob M-J of WRC and Charmaine Love of Berwick Harriers reported similar improvements in their times.

Cycling efforts took a new turn when fellow triathlete Big N suggested having a go at time trialing with the Berwick Wheelers. A fine friendly bunch and a good opportunity to sharpen the biking up a bit. Right-ho then! Some Thursday evenings since have been spent wearing lycra and pedalling westward for various distances along the Tweed Valley and back as fast as bloody possible! This is indeed fine fun and I feel some improvement in the cycling department, not my strongest tri discipline. Some of these chaps are rather quick I might add! To be continued...

With a view to the Castles Challenge Triathlon, it seemed like a good idea to start a bit of open-water swim training and there were some ideal opportunities with full tides, sunshine and calm seas on three evenings during the month. Big N and Mr S joined me on one occasion, along with a new triathlon recruit, Mrs E (Mr S's good lady!) preparing for her first Tri outing which was at Alnwick Sprint, as well as for the Castles Challenge too. Nothing makes you feel like you've been doing something active like swimming in the sea does, but it seems the kitchen cupboards can never be full enough to cope with the increased appetite induced!

Amongst other running and biking efforts I've found a sort of favourite session though which is the cycle across to Wooler for a Tuesday evening hill run and then cycle home again. Weather, and all else, permitting I'm hoping to get several more of those in during the longer days. We're blessed to have such amazing countryside to drip the sweat of our efforts on. 

Although May brought some glorious weather, race successes and high points in training, there was sadness too following the death of Rod Rutherford of Berwick Harriers. Rod was a long time member of the club, prompted to join in the first instance after his son and daughter did so. He subsequently took up the role of club treasurer, later secretary, and was qualified as a coach. I've probably heard more words of encouragement during cross-country races, on days when everyone involved would rather have been indoors, from Rod than anyone else I know. R.I.P.