11 Years of Blogging

It is nearly 11 years since I started this Blog. Time has flown by! So much has changed in my life that has impacted my racing ambitions. I do feel like my personal Tri community has shrunk somewhat since leaving the RAF in 2017. I have found the transition from RAF to civilian life incredibly difficult - mostly due to the fact that my departure from the RAF was somewhat of a 'cliff-edge' drop, rater than a calculated leap into a planned phase. But as I have said so many times in this Blog, the focus is training and racing; not an emotional dumping ground! So let's look at the end of 2019 and look ahead to 2020. Crikey! that date sounds almost science fiction! The fact that I am still racing is a success in itself, I suppose! But enough of reminiscing. The end of 2019 is today. As far as racing goes, it has been another low-key year. I started my 'second career' in March 19. A last minute opportunity to work with the Leidos, supporting the MOD arose. This job was a better prospect than joining DE&S as a civil servant. This meant my working in Bristol during the week and returning to Newcastle Under Lyme each weekend. This dynamic has taken some getting used to. In fact, I don't think that I will ever get used to it. I had tried to target a middle distance triathlon but illness, work, 'life' etc etc put pay to that. I managed a few 10 mile TTs, a disastrous 25 mile TT, a few sprint Triathlons and a few Duathlons. At best, I maintained some sense of fitness. Then, in August, I caught a bad chest infection. Any aspirations of a late season middle distance triathlon were binned as the illness dragged on for weeks. As October came, I started to focus on running more, and started track sessions with Bristol West AC. I also joined Newcastle (Staffs) Tri Club (NTC), recently voted THE BEST TRI CLUB IN ENGLAND!!! Awesome. So now the focus is to hit the age group duathlon races and see what can be achieved. I have not been in the pool for months and do not really miss it. The track sessions have been consistent and I am hoping to see some progress on the run speed. Add to this, regular conditioning sessions and I hope to start 2020 It's Parkrun day tomorrow. Let's see where the run fitness is. The track sessions tell me I am not ready to break 18 mins for 5k. . . . .

Run Focus

Well, nearly the end of 2019 and another underwhelming year of competing. I completed a few events and was pleased to qualify for the 2020 World Sprint Du Champs. The decision to focus on duathlon next year has been quite refreshing and motivating. I am enjoying track run sessions and the last few sessions have seen a few positive sensations where I actually felt as though I could be making progress. The last couple of sessions in Bristol have been completed in frosty conditions. The track was very slippy, yet my times were not too bad. I have entered a couple of road run races to test the run form. Firs, the Kidsgrove 10k on 12 Jan 20. Secondly, the Alsager 5 mile race on 2 Feb 20. Let's see how these event turn out! I could do with testing the form over 5k at the local Parkrun before these races. Maybe over the Christmas period when I will be a bit fresher for not being at work.

Winter Go-Tri Duathlon

Last minute decision to race the winter iteration of the Manchester Airport Duathlon last weekend. I raced this venue back in March and quite enjoyed it. The weather forecast told me there would be no ice; so off I went early Sunday in the Tri-van with road bike loaded up. I didn’t fancy the TT bike for this race. Plus if I was going to race some draft legal Duathlon in 2020 I had best dial in to the road bike position to run off my evo2max. Both runs are short for this race, at 2.5k. The start was split into 5 waves only 15 sec apart. Being in the last wave I could see about 120 runners up ahead. The run course takes you through tunnels under the runway, which is kind of cool. But the path is narrow and overtaking slower runners is difficult. As normal there were some folk starting off way too fast and I met them go and burn out. Sure enough they drifted back and I managed to pull away to lead my wave into T1. I wasn’t sure how many runners I had past from earlier waves. So I hopped on to the bike and tried to pace the speed round the country lanes. I half expected a hoard of TT bikes to come past me but nobody caught me. Into T2 and as I approached the turn round pint of the second run I saw the first runner ahead of me. So I must have been in 2nd place overall. There looked to be some fast younger runners closing in, as I saw them after I turned for the return part of the run leg. But I was flowing well and confident I could hold them off. And so it was 2nd overall for me. I’ll take that! It was a low key race but still got to be pleased with an overall podium. The run legs felt good. Maybe the track sessions are starting to pay off. Let’s hope so!

Deeper into Winter

Almost 1 month on from my last post where I outlined my Duathlon plans and I have managed to maintain my track sessions. Conditions seem to play a large part in hitting the pace that I outlined. The last couple of sessions at Bristol were completed in really poor conditions - very wet and cold. I just felt like the muscles wouldn’t work and the pace was not great. I managed another session with NTC in Stoke and that was a bit better, though legs were fatigued from the previous weekend. I have to focus on the longer term goals as the temptation is to try and be fresh for these track sessions and that means easing up 3 days before! My powers of recovery are almost non-existent! I’ve struggled to get sufficient sleep too. The pace of work and juggling domestic struggles is really taking a toll on me - mentally and physically. I’m trying to be sensible and take more rest days. However, rest days don’t seem to recharge me and I’m left stale and flat. Not sure what the answer is to all this. We do what we can . . . . On a much more cheery note, check this awesome pic from CJ.

Run Focus - Track Revisited

With the new duathlon focus I’ve been thinking about how to structure training. The Duathlon focus is on sprint distance primarily. My thinking is that I need to build some strength whilst focusing on speed work. Speed work is a training aspect that I enjoy but haven’t really built up any consistent training load for any period of time. As normal, my schedule isn’t really a schedule! It’s just an aspiration to add structure somehow 🤣. But for the next few months the aim will to build back the strength and conditioning with some body weight and kettle bell work. And simultaneously build up the run speed work with consistent track sessions. So far, I’ve completed 3 track sessions; a couple with Bristol West athletic club and last night a session with NTC at Northwood Stadium. Really enjoyed all these sessions and they’ve given me an idea of what sort of shape I’m in now at the start of this new training focus. Last night’s session was a descending distance with corresponding descending RI. From this session I want to baseline my pace to build to a target that will increase my 5k speed. Pace: 2000. 7:18. 3:31 pace 1600. 5:43. 3:24 pace 1200. 4:11. 3:19 pace 0800. 2:50. 3:25 pace 0400. 1:16. 3:04 pace So where does that leave the pace to work on? Well 3:30 per kilo is a 17:30 5k. I’d be well chuffed to run that time for 5k nowadays. So I’m thinking anything longer than 1600m in a track session has to be at 3:30 pace - or as close possible. 800m is aimed to be at 3:25 pace. 400m aimed at sub 3:20. These are the target times and distances in between should have corresponding times in line with the baseline distances/times. Recovery is key after these track sessions. It seems to hit my legs hard and 2-3 days of soreness is common. So I need to push the track but aim to tease the pace increases rather than run absolutely flat out every track session. Biking for the next few months will be whatever I feel like with some turbo HIT sessions short and sharp to keep the legs awake. So there’s a plan I just made up whilst drafting this narrative 😎👍🚵🏼‍♀️🏃‍♂️

Change of Focus. . . . . Darley Moor Duathlon World Champ Qualifier

Loads of time has slipped by since my last post - nothing new there. But there has been lots happening and my planned races have not happened due to illness, mostly. I contracted a chest infection that just did not shift. I basically lost 5 - 6 weeks training and then struggled to train at any intensity for weeks afterwards. Only recently have I been able to push the effort to any degree. As normal, I was not a happy bunny. Some other domestic and work pressures have added more chaos to the mix and the last few months have been pretty much a training write-off. On the plus side, I have my imported van now. This van is awesome for racing excursions and camping etc. It feels like going back to the good old days! Amongst the chaos and feeling sorry for myself, I tried to reflect on what I could achieve with my racing. Cutting out the route to realisation, I came up with the fact that I needed a new direction; something that could motivate me and fit in better with my life. I came up with the idea of focusing on Duathlons. I was never going to be a great swimmer (though I enjoy swimming immensely) and it was costly to get to the pool, restricted by session time and I always found myself chasing down the field after the swim leg of a triathlon because I was way back. Despite no real race fitness I managed to get a late entry into the Darley Moor Sprint Duathlon on 22 Sep 19. This happened to be a World Champs Qualifier. So although a local race, the standard of competition was likely to be quite high. With no expectations I found myself looking forward to the race - armed with my new focus for the following season. Come race day it was wet. . . . .very wet. But at least it was warm. First run was ok and I held back a bit for an 18:21 4.8k. Not a great time but then I have not been training that much. I enjoyed the bike a lot. Even the rain didn't impact my enjoyment. Second run was 9:50 for 2.5k. Again not great but I held it together. Overall, 2nd in age group by 16 seconds. I could see the chap in front but the gap stayed constant and I couldn't catch him. So a World Champs slot for Sep 2020. Whether I get to race these champs, who knows!

Blithfield Sprint Tri

Today was my nect sprint Tri. I certainly felt better on the bike and rub than I did during the Ashbourne Sprint Tri back in May! Must be the French Alps agreeing with me 8-). Butthe swim was dire. A timed 16:15 for 750m!! I've not been that slow for . . . . . can't remember! I didn't feel too bad in the water but I was slowwwwww. Oh well, do some more swimming and don't get hung up on it. I've never been competitive over the sprint distance but a good course and nice weather made for a good race. I actually finished 2nd in Cat but should really have raced the Standard Distance I think. I got held up on the bike quite badly. Being so slow in the swim I was passing cyclists ahead of me like crazy. However, cars were stuck amongst the slower cyclists and I won't overtake cars. So I got held up and the ride was a bit stop/start. But enough complaining. The run was ok averaging 3:59/k. Could do with some speed but felt strong. My transitions were bad but there was no way I would have caught the winner of my Cat. Onwards and upwards. I have a Sportive on 11 August and could do with a Standard Distance race soon. . . .