This podium finish is brought to you by the Bike Whisperer

3rd place at Hillingdon this week, a great race, pipped by Clark Schofield on the line by a wheel length. Well played sir! To clear up any confusion its a swim-run-bike format.

A fantastic swim saw me out of the water with the second group (Matt Maloy was gone and away), a really good effort. The run was OK but a tough couple of run days prior meant that I had heavy legs and couldn't quite get up to top speed. I went in T2 in 3rd and had a crap transition. Having over-slepped I racked near the bins and had to run just a little but further. The bike course was rolling with a couple of tough climbs, I overhauled Matt Patemen about 10k in and was in second until Clark took me to school in how to finish a race. All in all a great sharpener for next weeks Cowman.

Special thanks to Scherrit at the Bike Whisper who repaired my bike at the 11th hour on Saturday to allow me to compete.

Weekly update and some mid-season reflections

Another solid week:

60k running including a 20 miler at sub 3hr marathon pace;

300k on the bike including a 4.5hr effort in some terrible wind on Sunday;

14k in the pool/lake.

What has hit me this week is that I have placed all my eggs in one basket this season. As I left the Hillingdon crit on Tuesday having finished about 6/7th (I think) I uttered my old mantra of "it's OK, I'm going long this season". How many times has that been my excuse so far, both in the blog and in my head at the end of any race over a shorter distance.

It was only this week that the usual "what ifs?" started to enter my head. The seeds of doubt which were no doubt planted a while ago are starting to grow and I can only hope that in 2 weeks time at the Cow Man I'm not left repeating the same thing because then it just won't cut it. It's not my A race for sure but it's a massive indicator on my road map to IMUK and failure at this point is going to be pretty difficult to rationalise. That said the training is going steady and well... I just hope its steady and well enough...

Hillingdon tri this weekend (assuming I haven't missed the cut off time) as a tune up for Cow Man.

Weekly update 7

A week marred by illness meant that despite a strong start with some good mileage, the middle of the week was a bit of an ibuprofen fueled struggle. I was hit by a migraine on Wednesday evening, I pushed on with my ride and to my annoyance felt great, apart from feeling as through my brain was slightly to large for my head (a feeling which I can assure people I am not used to!).

Thankfully Friday was a rest day anyway so I rejigged things and only missed one key session and I'm now feeling back to full health and enjoyed a great session on Saturday and a good open water swim on Sunday.

I hope everyone racing at Windsor had a great day especially those who popped their triathlon cherry.

Until next week, happy training...

Weekly update 6

Hola!
Having become increasingly aware that I tend to rant on for hours (you can always rely o your Grandma to be honest), I'll keep this brief.
This week (and all the coming weeks) are dedicated to mileage in prep for IMUK. I've done about 300k on the bike, 60k on foot and about 12k in the pool/lake.
A slight hamstring tweak was a cause for concern on Friday but I got through the weekend's training with minimal disruption so hopefully it'll cleared up for tomorrow.
The thing I am most proud of this weekend is my "tan" (burn) lines. 4 hours in the aero position on Sunday followed by a run off the bike not only left my legs like jelly but my shoulders and back like a lobster. If I can find anyone who has a strong enough stomach to take a pic you can all have a good laugh at my discomfort. Although don't expect me to turn any more red!

Have a good week of training.

Shropshrie Race Report

Just got the results and it's pretty average to be honest. 11th overall, 2nd in cat, not bad but not great.

The top end was not that much slower than last year - despite being a much smaller field, and alot of the quick guys still pitched up and with some the Armed Forces' best there I got served on the run.

The swim was quicker than anticipated - a pretty slow T1 but I was onto the pontoon in under 21 mins. On the bike in 23.36. It's a 5 min improvement on last year so I was pretty chuffed, although that was the last time "chuffed" could describe my mood that day.
The bike just never hit top gear, the course was hillier than I remember and to not dip under the hour was disappointing.
The run was painful and I lost 2 places in the last 1k which is unacceptable as far as I'm concerned. 36.42 is about a minute slower than I wanted and was aiming for.

I've reflected plenty on this performance and I never really switched on mentally, I didn't put up enough of a fight on the run and wasn't feeling that nervous prior to the start, which never happens, I'm usually passing bricks! Still, to put things in perspective its an 11min improvement in just under 12 months with steps forward in all 3 disciplines. Cow Man is the next race and looking at the start list I'll need to up my game.

Happy training y'all, I'll be on the road putting in miles upon miles upon miles........

Weekly update 5 - La Manga

I've spent the last week chillaxing in Spain tapering for Shropshire. It was a pretty easy week with most of the time spent swimming open water or in the 25m pool in the complex. It was pretty warm and being the whitest man on the planet I burnt - twice - despite factor 30! This probably wasn't the best build up to a race but at least my legs don't blind people at 50 paces anymore.

Daniel Craig eat your heart out!

T1 practice.

Enjoying el Mar Menor, salty but warm.

Heron lake this ain't!

Still waiting on Shropshire results but I know I didn't break the hour...hey ho role on Cow Man.