Next Race Looming, Time To Get Some Excuses In!

Odiham this Wednesday will be my first race since Brize and to be honest, the elusive holy grail of training, namely consistency, has eluded me a little bit. Swimming and biking have been ok, but my dodgy calfs have threatened to hamper my progress yet again! A week after Brize I felt my left lower calf sting a bit towards the end of a 10 x 400m session. I finished the session as planned (yes I know I should have stopped as soon as I felt the twinge!) and jogged 10 min to home as my cool down and although it didn't feel right I felt as though it was nothing major. I popped some anti inflammatory pills, iced it and compressed it. I then took the decision to not run for a week. I hate not running but I thought it was a better idea to 'nurse it' rather than 'push it', especially at this stage of the season. It was a worry at first but I seemed to have got away with it and it was a timely reminder to not get carried away with the running...consistency, consistency, consistency!

Anyway, it seems to have settled down and I have completed a solid run week since my mini running layoff and all seems well. It's such a relief, as I really hate not being able to run and I am a total pain to live with when my running isn't going to plan! Just ask my long suffering wife!

Another aspect of my training I'm trying to address is wetsuit/open water swimming, or the lack of it. I usually open water swim at Ripon racecourse but since a competitor sadly died during the swim of the Ripon Tri last year, strict rules and regs have been introduced and you have to have an induction before being allowed to swim and I haven't been able to get to one yet. So, in the absence of any open water, I thought I'd do a wetsuit swim in the pool instead. I totally boiled! I managed about 2km before the unbearable heat made my skin feel as though it was melting!

However, my times were much faster in neoprene so it was a confidence boost if nothing else!

I'm looking forward to Odiham on Weds but as it's close to Dambuster I will be 'training through' in favour of trying to put in a decent performance at Dambuster (for a change!). So my taper for Odiham starts and ends on Tuesday!

I think I've got enough pre-race excuses in there!

Train well.

A Good Blast at Brize!

Last Weds I raced at the Brize Sprint and dragged a couple of newbie triathletes down there with me.
It was a pretty long day as we decided to travel down on the day, setting off about 6am and returning to North Yorks straight after our swim bike run escapades.
It was a really well organised race (as always...this is the RAF we're talking about here!) and although the weather threatened to be a tad nasty, it actually held fair and it was a great day out!
The 2 novices I travelled down with seemed to enjoy the race. They were understandably nervous to begin with but once I'd 'cohersed' them through the registration process there was no turning back! The whole experience hasn't put them off and they are keen to sample the delights of the Odiham and Cranwell sprints later in the year.

As far as my race went I was very happy! 2nd overall and 1st Vet was more than I was expecting!
I started in the same swim wave as Saggers and JC who are both vets, so if I was to get anywhere near the top of the pile in the vets race I knew I had to hang on to these two!
I came out of the swim with JC, with Sags just a few precious seconds behind us.
Out on the bike, I had JC just behind me and Saggers catching us all the time. I kept telling myself that when Sags comes past me, I must at least try and keep him in sight. I found out later that unfortunately Sags had an 'altercation' with a car, and by all accounts was very lucky to not get seriously hurt.



Out of T2 I knew JC was right behind me but couldn't work out where Sags was, but having seen the pic of me leaving T2 (right) I can see that Sags was was right there too!
The run was all about embracing the pain and pushing on and hoping that I was running fast enough to keep ahead of them!
Thankfully my run went ok, and with about a km to go I realised that I'd managed to pull away slightly from JC and that Sags hadn't managed to claw back the time he lost from his near miss on the bike.
Although I was chuffed to have finished where I did, and that everything went well with my race, the shine was obviously taken off it knowing that a fellow competitor was impeded, especially as that competitor was Sags! This result could have been a lot different but I'm sure Sags will be out for a bit of sporting revenge at our next race (aka battle!) at Odiham! See ya there mate!
(I promise I won't get my missus to pull out on you next time!!)

Train smart.

A Nice Long Windy Training Weekend!

The Inter Services Duathlon last Weds was a great gathering of RAF Tri members. Alas, this still wasn't enough to topple the Army who filled the top 3 slots. We are getting close to them though, with 8 RAF blokes in the top 18. One day!
On a personal level, I enjoyed the racing, although I'm not a fan of totally flat bike courses as I find them too painful with no respite, especially in the wind!

My splits...5k run 17:20
20k bike 30:21
2.5k run 8:37

The second run was a good old tussle with Jase, Matt, Saggers and myself with the evergreen Sags coming out on top! I just had nothing left when Sags pushed for home in the last 100m!

Since the race, I've tried to squeeze a lot of training in and make the most of the nice long weekend.

The day after was an easy 45 min spin followed by a beasting on the foam roller!

Friday was a hilly 2 hour bike at tempo pace. In the wind!

Saturday was an early swim: alternating 500m paddles/500m without x 2, then 4 x 200. In the evening I ran what was supposed to be a steady 7.5 miles however, my good lady accompanied me on her bike and I found myself running harder than I'd planned! Ended up with a time of 46:12! Damn the male ego!

Today started with another swim. Drills for 20 mins then 10 x 100m on 2 mins then 5 x 50m hard/50m easy. This afternoon was a battle in the wind (again!) with a 70 mile ride...first half was great with the wind behind me, second half was a killer! But at least it was sunny!

Tomorrow I'm off into the hills for some tough running, Sutton Bank and White Horse to be exact, for several hill efforts in the woods, over about an hour or so, then into the cafe up there for a huge slice of carrot cake! It's all about the rewards!

Sprint race at Brize in just over a week...hope the wind has died down by then!

Train well.