It's been another busy week for me. After flying out to Germany early Tuesday morning, then sitting in the back of a car for 1000 miles, I got home in to Heathrow Friday evening. Apparently I was lucky to get back home after the interesting day at Heathrow. Once through security in Frankfurt I wandered up to the earlier flight and managed to get on. Happy days.
So back to the 8 days in California
Day 5 was an early climb with flattish finish. 20 second and 30 second power record.
Day 6 was the Time Trial. Ouch. Scraped a 15 minute power record. I wasn't looking to set a 20 minute one, that's for sure!
Day 7 was the biggy, the Queen stage. over 1h30 long it took a lot of effort, and on one of the sunniest days for months! 30 second, 60 & 90 minute power bests.
Day 8 was the final day, circuits with sprint finished. A good effort but the legs were hurting so managed to finish, but with no panache or style. No bests either.
Back to last week:
I managed a 7km run in Austria along the river Inn, then Thursday night I did a few lengths in the hotel pool. It was a 15m pool but arm time is arm time. The run was strange. After 2 days sat in the car for 4-5 hours a piece my quads were sore, and both cramped on the run. So much so I had to walk for a bit. Then some unfamiliar geography caused me to do some XC running to get back over the river Inn to Austria.
My kit is packed up ready for tomorrow's triathlon. Qualifier for the 2014 European championships. Looking forward to it.
I finished late last night. I'm on an early flight tomorrow morning, so I'll update later. Needless to say it was great fun, but hard work.
Today I managed my first run in 2 weeks; no achilles pain. Tonight was a swim.
So TrainerRoad rolled out their 8 Days in California turbo trainer challenge last Sunday. To blatantly rob their spiel:
"8 Days in California simulates what an 8 day stage race might be like
in California through TrainerRoad.com's software. Workouts will
simulate a live race with a story overarching the entire event. Riders
will be challenged to cover breaks, bring up water bottles and protect
their team's GC contender.
The challenge will consist of 8 workouts over 8 days. Workouts
will last between one and two hours. There will be flat stages,
mountain climbs and even a time trial."
The opening ride on Sunday evening was tough - a mountain stage with an intermediate sprint and a final KOM. Earned a new 5 second power best.
Monday lunch was another Mountain stage with a short uphill finish. I hid in the pack today and ignored all sprints and KOMs. I still managed a new 15 minute power best. I swam in the evening with the tri club to ease the legs. After Friday's pool swim and Sunday morning's OW swim my arms were aching.
Late Tuesday evening I got on the TT bike again and rode day 3 - yet another mountain stage but with a downhill finish. On the climbs I made an effort to use big gears. I completed the sprints but ignored the KOMs. New 5 second & 10 second power bests!
Tonight (day 4) was a shorter stage with sprints and KOMs of which I did all. I was duly rewarded with 4 power bests! 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 20 seconds and 2 minutes.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow's 'easy' day, and I have really enjoyed re-discovering my music collection. A good build up to Grendon tri in a few weeks (Euro 2014 qualifier).
I was working in Essex Monday and had packed my bike and turbo for the hotel. I rode Sufferfest's Long Scream on TrainerRoad. Short and hard.
Yesterday was a short run, some of it with my running club. Some good speedwork in there. Tonight was a quick 20 minute power interval: Half Dome on TrainerRoad. On the past 3 turbo sessions I've set 6 new power records, so it bodes well for the weekend.
Tomorrow is a morning run, followed by the long drive to Horst. Then a day of work in the Netherlands on Friday; which will also be a rest day.
It's been another busy week. I got out on the TT bike in the sun last Sunday. It was a pleasure to ride some country routes without wrapping up like an Eskimo.
Monday was going to be busy with work so I went out for an early morning run, in the sun again! I had to pick up a colleague up from the airport and managed to drop in to Blade printing on the way to hand over my Adidas tri-suit for printing, in case the Z3R0D suits were not available. At the same time the team received an email telling us to order the new suits online. After some confusion we were then told to order them direct from the BTF.
Tuesday started at a hotel in Essex where I tested out the gym bike with Audiofuel's Ride Harder#1. 40 minutes of pyramid intervals - good stuff. I washed this breakfast down with a 15 minutes treadmill brick, then went to meet my colleagues for a proper meal. After a couple of busy days I got home late Wednesday, just in time to go to the track. Our club coach had planned 3 reps of the following:
- 1200m at HM pace
- 400m at 10km pace
- 200m at 5km pace
All good fun. Thursday I was going to do the local time trial, and the weather looked ace. Unfortunately work upset the schedule, and having been away a lot recently I decided to stay in with the family, sort the kids out and read them a long overdue story. Turned out to be an impromptu rest day. The aim therefore to be up early Friday to turbo.
That slipped until Friday lunch time. I rode Sufferfest's The Wretched on TrainerRoad. A good way of keeping true to power.
I also received my Z3R0D GB trisuit at last, all printed up. Very proud!
Saturday was an early run before a wedding. It was my turn to drive as it was a friend of my wife. Next time she can drive! Today was finished off with a good session on the TT bike.
Taper time now. Shorter sessions but just as intense. Heading out to the Netherlands on Thursday.
So following on from my last post I said I would take a week or so from running, which I did. I also did the early morning Threshold turbo session - TrainerRoad's Goethe.
It was strange doing such a session first thing, a few minutes after waking. This season most of my training has been in the evening and my body had to wake up rapidly this time. HR was lower than usual but was to be expected. It was nice to know the workout was done and out the way. This freed up the evening to go to a tri-club curry night, with a coaching discussion.
Wednesday was an active recovery turbo in the evening, followed by the first cycling Time Trial of the season on Thursday. I woke with a sore throat, and it had got worse by the evening. Work had overrun, and I left the house in a panic. I'd planned to cycle a lap of the course as a warmup, but in the end did some small loops. Not enough unfortunately. All I could do was shiver.
I signed on the line and was given #22. The first lap was OK even though I knew the last part of each lap was in to wind. The second lap became a lot harder halfway through. Post-ride analysis from my PowerCal shows the best 20 minute power was minutes 0-20! It was a real struggle to put out any power towards the end. Normally a TT is hard, but this was something else. After crossing the line I had an easy pedal up the road and back again, got in the car and went home, still cold. The time was horrendous and not what I had expected.
My NP for the TT was 259W and the AP 256W. More than both duathlons but not by much. Overall I was 10th of 22 riders, and the 14 knot wind didn't help. On the plus side I tried out a visor I'd bought for my TT helmet back in August! Reminded me a bit of flying, with the visor that far from my face - I'm used to riding in sunglasses.
All evening I was shivering and my muscles were sore. Friday I awoke with a headache, sore throat and sore muscles. Not happy, and didn't do any training.
Today was much better and managed to get out in the sun (yes, sun!) for a nice run, mostly track and trail. A bit further than 8km; some tenderness in the Achilles to begin with but it soon dissapeared. A tad tender afterwards but nothing to write home about.
Next week is a busy week with travel so aiming to bike long tomorrow, bike Monday before work then run Tuesday before work. Back to track on Wednesday, though not too hard a session.
2013 - what a year, and we're only 3 months in!
It seems that January was mostly spent indoors though the number show otherwise. A minimal amount of running, most off-road due to ice and snow including a good XC league race at Tadley. Lots of turbo cycling though - great quality and quantity.
February was an improvement in running volume and quality though the biking was reduced due to tapering and racing. Some good duathlon race results at Dorney and Althorp and of course qualifying for the ETU champs.
March was a bigger month all round with some great quality bike (road and MTB) and run sessions. The month was finished nicely with a ~4 hour club ride finishing at the cafe at Dinton Pastures, where I refulled with a sausage roll, chocolate fudge cake and a coffee.
With hindsight I wish I'd had some quick tracker so I can separate turbo and road rides. Perhaps something for me to add to my TrainingPeaks metrics.
April started with an easy 30km road ride, where I took in a lap of the HCC234 time trial course. My TT season starts there this Thursday. Tomorrow morning will be a good threshold TrainerRoad turbo session and Wednesday will be a 30 minute recovery ride to spin the legs out in readiness for Thursday. I'll swim Friday.
No running for me this week. A tight calf has caused my Achilles to become sore. Knocking running on the head for a week will not affect the goal for me. I will also stop my daily hamstring stretched as I have an inkling that the stretches are also contributing to the problem. Shame, as I was enjoying the track sessions. More time on the foam roller needed.
Even though it was a busy training weekend, the extra two days holiday meant some really good family time was had. We didn't do much - visited the in-laws Saturday for more cake, and then back over for Sunday lunch. Friday and today we chilled at home. Daughter leant to play draughts and is already beating me. One day I'll win against my wife too. Here's hoping at least!
Last week was bike focused; this week is all about the run.
Monday was a club swim. Tuesday was a tempo run with my running club. A good distance for the tempo section at a good pace. Unfortunately my elastic laces caused my feet to start slipping in the shoes and the day after my feet were really sore.
Each toe has a blister on the end and the underside of my feet are quite sore too. I replaced the elastic laces with normal laces for Wednesday's track session. Another good session with 3 sets of decreasing reps. My left Achilles was a tad tender afterwards too, but nothing the foam roller can't cure!
Tonight saw me back on the turbo, doing a TrainerRoad sweetspot session to get the legs going, and watch some of a Harry Potter film.
Tomorrow I hope to get outside, or I'll hit a threshold session on the turbo.
It's Sunday evening so time to catch up on the week since my last post.
Wednesday was the start of the tri-club's track-brick sessions. After a good warm up and some drills I did 3 reps of 6 min bike and 800m track. Each bike rep was high cadence and the 3 800m reps were very well paced. Slightly slower than my usual 800m target but taken easier as I'd raced at the weekend.
Thursday saw an hour on the turbo riding Sufferfest's Fight Club on TrainerRoad. A good session especially with the sprint intervals within each interval rep. I'm not a big fan of big-gear low-cadence work, but it must be done to build strength!
Friday was a warm, sunny lunch time easy run, with some added pick-ups to keep me race-pace aware. Some trail, some road and some very muddy XC section. My XC shoes had only just dried after Marlow!
Saturday morning a parcel arrived in the post for me. It was the flag and stickers that Sufferfest had donated to me. Thanks Sufferfest!
My wife and I knew we had a busy weekend ahead of us. Both children had parties to go to plus the usual visit to the in-laws for cake. Normally I'd cycle over with a long detour though the logistics for the children meant that I'd not do it this week. That, and with the weekend weather forecast looking grim I'd planned to ride Sufferfest's new video, Blender. However I thought I should get outside and took the opportunity to ride my rarely-used MTB. I knew that Swinley Forest was being reworked in to a trail centre so I decided to take a snowy look.
Once my daughter had been collected I cycled over to Swinley with a friendand we spend an hour and a half trying out the new trails. The trail work is very impressive with some good surfaces and a noticeable lack of surface water despite the waterlogged forestry all around. A quick cup of Bovril and flapjack in the cafe, then a further hour rolling around Swinley before heading home for a warm cup of tea.
A really enjoyable session and back in the nick of time; we arrived just as my daughter was being dropped home.
This morning I left the family to their lie-in and headed out with a few friends from my running club. We ran deep wet muddy XC trails and climbed a few hills before heading back in to woodland trails and more mud. We parted ways after about an hour and I did another 30 minutes on my own whilst they went of for some longer mileage. Even though it was cold and lightly snowing it was a good run. I'm so lucky to have such a vast amount of running and cycling terrain on my doorstep.
I got home to find that my wife had baked a lovely cake, ideal recovery food from a run. I also found out that my son's couple of red spots had turned in to full blown chicken pox overnight. Unfortunately for him he would not be going to any party today, and had unwittingly jeopardised my daughters own birthday party scheduled for this week. Other than being very itchy he doesn't appear to be suffering and still tore round the house like a barbarian all afternoon.
Another good week of family fun and 9 hours quality training.
Marlow seems to have taken more out of me than I thought it would. The extra hilly 5km on the bike and the extra 4km run have taken their toll. Yesterday was a 30 minute recovery spin and a club swim in the evening. I have just finished an hour on the turbo, doing TrainerRoad's Ericsson.
4 x 8minute sweetspot intervals. Sweetspot gives a great training
stimulus but doesn't hammer the body as much as Threshold work. Great
for recovery.
Comparing previous year's results I finished 26 places higher than 2012, where I finished 49th. A great improvement. I think this says a lot about base training; the bulk of the training I did for the Outlaw Iron-distance tri was all in heart-rate Z2, low effort, endurance based training.
Here is the Marlow bike leg on TrainingPeaks viewer. Compare this against the bike leg from Althorp. Both have the same training stress score (TSS) though Marlow was 5km longer and almost ~80m more climb. It seems obvious now the reduced effort I put in on the bike leg at Marlow.
Just waiting on the pictures from Marlow now!
To catch up with the week...
Wednesday evening was a pyramid track session. Thursday I rode Sufferfest's There Is No Try on TrainerRoad. During the middle TT section I could feel some cramps building in my left calf and then on the final high-power interval the cramps arrived and locked my leg solid. I still went out for my planned transition run then finished off with a 10 minute spin on the bike.
Friday's tempo run became an easy multi-terrain run with a few pickups; mainly as I was racing Sunday and also to run off the muscle stiffness from the cramp. Saturday was a rest day and after visiting my local bike shop I took the kids to a local park. They have an outdoor gym there and it was funny to watch both of them trying leg pushes, ski-trainer and stationary bike.
So on to the duathlon. Marlow Striders have run this annual event for a fair few years now. It is a great, friendly, grass-roots event and gets better every year; this year had chip-timing and proper age-group results. In past years the proceeds have contributed to the purchase of Marlow sports ground, along with the other resident clubs.
I had been watching the weather for a few days. Despite raining yesterday the evening forecast promised a dry morning with minimum wind with heavy rain coming in before 12pm.
Upon arrival it was noticeably cooler than at home even though it wasn't too far away. After registering and getting a coffee I took the bike out for a 10 minute spin to make sure all was OK, and then racked the bike. After some more faff I adjusted my rear brake, set up my shoes on the bike and then went for a quick warm up run. Back to the start line for the briefing, and then the hooter went.
The first run is 7.5km - round the sports field, out down Pound Lane (a track), along a muddy path then on to the Thames path. Over the Thames on a wooden bridge then cross country again. Through a low tunnel, round Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre then continuing on the road across the Thames at Marlow. Through Higginson park (grass and mud) then back down Pound Lane to the large gate and across the field to T1.
Run#1.
My target time for this was 30 minutes. As usual it wasn't long before I was hot, even in the overcast conditions - I have raced most duathlons this year in a white short-sleeve base layer, arm warmers and tri-suit. All was well until we hit the muddy track. In past years a cold spell has made this track passable though hard underfoot. Today it was a quagmire, with most people struggling to stay upright, even those in XC shoes like myself. After some effort the path ended and the Thames path appeared. The wooden bridge was slippery on the way up and even more so on the way back down. Up to this point I had been sparing with a fellow Finch Coasters' runner. She had some great XC shoes and made some headway on the mud but I managed to overtake on the road section. Good going on the roads until we hit the mud in Higginson park and then in to T1.
Run#1: 30:44.
T1 was a pedestrian 55 seconds due to running up the wrong row in transition. Found my bike, put my helmet and glasses on and I immediately noticed that my glasses had steamed and would not clear.
Bike.
After jumping on the bike at the mount line my feet found my shoes and off I went. Plan was to take it relatively easy on the first couple of km as they were uphill, then I could hammer the downhill and the rest of the 25km course. Then it started to rain, and I struggled to keep my glasses clear. At the top of the hill I got ready to hit the descent though it was hard to see due to my glasses and the rain. I should have used the clear lenses too.
The entire course was waterlogged and the surface water hid potholes - or so we'd been warned. The bike course splits in two quite nicely. The first part is rolling and the second is more up then down.The first part wasn't too bad but the rain got heavier and then turned to hail. I was still struggling to see where I was going and so decided it was better to take it easier than end up damaged. As I approached the second half my kit was soaked, my shoes had filled up with water and I'd lost most of the feeling in my hands, needing to use the entire hand to change gear. There wasn't much to be said about the bike course other than it was hard work in the conditions and completely unenjoyable. Not the fault of the organisers by any means. For me it was also interesting to see how lonely the bike course was. Last year I was further down the pack so there was lots of overtaking and grabbing positions back. This time there was the odd overtake or overtaking and passing those unlucky enough to puncture on the multitude of potholes. One of the best part of the second half is the descent to the turn-round point. Not this year. Lack of feeling in my hands meant taking it easy so I could slow down in time and I lost a few places due to this. After the turn-round it was through a wooded area where the road surface was mostly holes. I noticed the guys in the distance were drafting which annoyed me - it is unfair to everyone else riding within the rules. Towards one of the final turns I passed another punctured competitor and a marshal asked if he was ok. I tried to reply but my mouth would not move - frozen in place. I rolled down the hill in to T2 - again, normally I'd put some effort in but it was hard to do anything.
Bike: 51:11
T2 was faster as I knew where the bike went, though the event photographer was trying to do some artistic shots in my space.
Run#2.
Run#2 , the reverse of Run#1 was about survival, rather than my 30:00 target (run#2 is slightly shorter than #1). The lack of effort on the bike meant I was not going to hit my target so it was a case of do what I could. One thing I did notice was the lack of jelly legs. I hopes this down to all the brick sessions I have done, but in all honesty is was likely down to the lack of bike effort. Like the bike, the run was lonely and cold. I also noticed I was shivering a lot. Shortly before Bisham I was overtaken and we exchanged some banter. He was running off some anger caused by a puncture - and then he disappeared! I heard some footsteps from behind shortly before the wooden bridge and was accompanied across the bridge and along the Thames, then he overtaken me. We hit the muddy path and both of us played Bambi on ice for a mile. Once back on the track I found my legs again but could not catch him. I tried to push harder but it seemed it was too early to kick and I'd run out of power before the finish. A winter of XC racing has given me a good grounding of how early I can kick, and also when to save it. As we approached the final turn in to the sports ground I kicked hard and made the overtake. We both hit the grass on the field and I thought I would lose my lead. Luckily the bad footing affected us both and I crossed the finish line with 3s between us. The previous finisher was 14s before - a lifetime in racing.
Run#1: 32:00
Aftermath.
I grabbed my free hot chocolate recovery drink and headed in to the club for my warm clothes as I continued to shake and shiver. The club house had a few people covered in foil blankets and others lying next to radiators. I got on my warm clothes then found my Coasters' friend, who was also suffering. It seems the conditions caused a few cases of mild hypothermia and a vast amount of shivery cold people. Many ended up under hand-driers and alongside radiators in the bar. No long term damage done though.
It is a measure of an event when things like this happen, and the Marlow guys really pulled together and ensured that everyone was ok. Hot tea, coffee and more hot chocolate flowed until the warmth was evident. Well done Marlow.
So after all that I finished 23rd overall, and 7th in AG after 1:55:43. I'll be honest and say I'd hoped for better - somewhere at least 5 minutes quicker overall. Though with hindsight I had really raced last year and this year I struggled to see on the bike so eased off and also suffered from the cold. Then the second run was about getting back rather than setting records.
Not a bad day out, but must try harder. That is all my racing done now until the Europeans so time to get some quality training under the belt. Glad to see that my Coasters' friend managed 2nd Woman and the other Coasters and TVTers all did well in the conditions.
Our house has been on the market for a few weeks now. Plenty of viewings but no bites. Today we put a deposit down on a new build near Bracknell and will part-exchange our house for the as-yet un-built house. In fact, today it is still a car park!
Yesterday was also a good day. Firstly I woke up
to some good news in my inbox. I had sent out some
speculative sponsorship requests to various companies whose products I
use.
The Sufferfest
have kindly donated me their entire set of training videos, including the latest one, Blender. I already had
a few and I am a great fan of them - they were extremely useful over
our recent snowy/icy spell and allowed me to continue bike training.
They have also offered me a Sufferlandria national flag which I will
display at the ETU champs in April.
TrainerRoad have
also agreed to sponsor me with access to their indoor training system.
TrainerRoad was developed for cyclists and triathletes and offers
athletes structured cycling workouts with live ANT+ data based on power,
heart rate or VirtualPower™. The TrainerRoad software is both Mac and
PC compatible and offers more than 190 workouts scaled to match the
current fitness level of each member. TrainerRoad will also be
advertised on my trisuit.
Secondly my age-group trisuit arrived, complete with GBR on it. The 2013 kit will hopefully be ready in time though it may be quite close to the race date, so I have bought the older style as an insurance policy. The newer suit has a GB flag on it and whilst I would rather race in that I will be incredibly proud to race in either of them. Go Team GB!
Finally I did a 20 minute power test on TrainerRoad yesterday. This showed a ~5% increase in Functional Threshold Power since January. Good result.
I still have a few sponsorship emails out there with local businesses and I'm hopeful for some more positive responses.
The past week and a half have been incredibly busy.
A muddy club run with Finch Coasters followed the day after the Dorney duathlon. Followed later in the week with a short-tempo run, a track session and a long-tempo run, pacing one of the club's VLM entrants.
For the bike I rode TrainerRoad's Gray - a classic 2 x 20 minutes at FTP. I followed this two days later with Sufferfest's Hell Hath No Fury, again on TrainerRoad. The weekend was a long bike.
On the Sunday I flew out to Germany for the week with work. Luckily the week was taper so I managed a long run whilst away and had plans to hit the hotel gym bike for a light spin. Due to rescheduling appointments I was home late Wednesday evening. This allowed me to do TrainerRoad's HalfDome as a quick power interval session for my taper. Once I'd tidied the turbo away I check my emails and saw that Althorp was waterlogged, so the Qualifier would take place on the 2nd of March rather than the 16th of February.
These things happen - nothing can be done, though I was a little annoyed as the week had been used as a taper, when I could have been doing some bike/run maintenance.
I'll put the taper to good use and blast a parkrun this Saturday instead.
So with the running coming on well courtesy of the XC season, and the bike power increasing with TrainerRoad, it is time to schedule some early season races.
The plan so far is to race the VoTwo sprint duathlon series at Dorney lake, Berkshire. The first race kicks off on the 2nd of February.
I will also race the Marlow duathlon, a great local event run by Marlow Striders on the 17th of March. Slightly longer than a traditional sprint at 7km run, 25km bike and 7km run. The bike is undulating throughout the Chilterns and promises great views. In the past two years I can't say I've watched the scenery on the bike. Both runs along the Thames are nice though.
I have also entered the Althorp sprint duathlon. This takes place on the 16th of February and is a qualifier for the ITU World Championships and ETU European Championships. Fingers crossed.
In ancient Roman religion and mythology, Janus is the god of beginnings and endings. He is typically portrayed as two faced, since he can see in to the future and the past. The month of January is named after him.
So with 2013 upon us, it is an opportunity to recap on the past year, and share some plans for the new year.
2012 was a landmark year for me both in running and triathlon.
January was the second month of training for the Outlaw long (Iron) distance triathlon. Run training was also focussed towards Wokingham half-marathon.
February brought at PB at half-marathon distance, taking 9 minutes of my 2011 result. Half term was spent in Devon where I got some good hill climbing in, and some trail runs around the rugged Devon coastline.
March saw a good performance at the Marlow Duathlon in Buckinghamshire. IM training allowed me to pick up 32 places.
April was the first OW swim of the year, bringing worry for May's first triathlon of 2012.
May was the Marshman middle (half-Iron) distance triathlon in Kent. A cold, wet and windy day, luckily the swim was cancelled and replaced with 5km run. Second duathlon of the season then! This was my first attempt at HIM distance, so I took it steady and paced well. 5:28:54.
June allowed another week away for half-term, this time in Yorkshire. I saw how the Brownlee's have become so superior when I saw the landscape. At last it was taper time too as Outlaw approached.
July - Outlaw Iron distance tri in Nottinghamshire on the 1st of the month. A very nervous couple of days at the end of June followed by a long day at the office. In one day I swam the furthest, set a 180km PB and ran my second marathon. All in for 12:52 and change. The rest of the month was spend enjoying some well earned time with my family.
August was also a great Olympic month! I cycled to and from the Road Time-Trial and saw Bradley Wiggins become victorious. I continued my good luck by going to see the men's triathlon in Hyde Park where I was privileged to see both the Brownlees podium, along with Javier Gomez. What a week!
August was also a return to tri, albeit with a different strategy. Going shorter! I'd entered the Vachery Sprint triathlon in Surrey. I'd felt the swim could have been better and rode well, sparring with some other riders for places. I felt I could have done better on the run, especially on the XC elements like the staircase! Reviewing the results showed that I'd got a 3rd in age-group, and had been 1st in AG on the swim and bike, losing 2 places on the run!
September delivered a sprained ankle courtesy of a rabbit hole whilst running in Austria. Cue a DNS at Cardiff half-marathon. The plus side was 4 weeks on the turbo trainer with TrainerRoad making my cycling stronger. My return to running was at the Dorney tri-relays with my tri club, Thames Valley Triathletes. Poor tidying after the Olympics meant the perimeter road was too muddy for the bike leg, so I raced my first Aquathlon.
October marked the start of my running campaign; 3 months to increase my speed over shorter distances. It also coincided with the start of the Thames valley XC league which was a great boost to the end of year motivation
November showed promising results at the XC leages and my 5km time was reducing. XC spikes made the season easier.
December, much like November was cold and wet. More XC racing and a final chance for a 5km PB at Frimley Lodge parkrun. Alas the course condition was awful. I managed to fall over before the start of the race, and even with spikes it was hard going. I did PB, by 1 second. The next day I finished first Finch Coaster at the Reading Roadrunners hosted XC at Bearwood College, Wokingham. Then a few days R&R with the family. Loads of gifts for the children, and a great Christmas day lunch at our house, with my parents.
2013 - so what will the new year bring?
As I write this I am reflecting upon a great new year's eve with some fantastic friends, followed by a good day's MTBing in the Alice Holt forest, and across Surrey with the same friends. It was nice to finally squeeze in a social bike ride followed by some pub grub and pints.
For me, 2013 is all about shorter, faster races. No Iron or half-iron distances, maybe a half-marathon at a push. It's about 5km and 10km road races, sprint distance duathlons and triathlons. The last quarter of 2012 showed great running improvement by following the Furman FIRST 5km plan. This first quarter is for improving my cycling in a similar, with TrainerRoad.
I plan to do a few parkruns early on to see where I am with my 5km time, and race a few sprint duathlons to get back up to racing shorter and faster. I've entered a few of the sprint triathlon qualifiers for the 2013 ITU World Championships in London and the ETU European Championships in 2014. Let's see how we get on!
