"Off season"

Retuning home from the massive high of Hawaii to normal life in England, was always going to be a struggle. Having never travelled long haul before, the jet lag was the thing that surprised me the most. On the way out I felt fine and quickly settled into the routine without much fuss, however on the return it was a completely different story. From trying your hardest to stay awake until 8pm and not fall asleep in front of the TV, to being wide awake at 3pm without a hope of drifting off again. I was quite lucky I suppose, one bad night followed by one good night for a few days, until I succumbed to the dreaded man-flu which knocked me out for a few days.

I've never really had an off season before, mainly because I played a variety of sport which always kept me busy. However this year I decided that I'd take approx. a month off structured training and only do anything active if it was seen as fun. Of course I couldn't stop altogether as the lure for the Gorrick MTB races is always too strong. First of all was the Gorrick autumn classic 2 at Crowthorne woods, a venue which I love racing at and is always a good loop. I stepped up to the sport category for the first time and am so glad I did. My fitness has obviously improved a lot since my last race with Gorrick back in the spring, as the extra lap didn't feel like a slog and the whole race felt pretty good and I managed to bring it home in 15th, my best result to date, happy days!

A couple of weeks later was the first round of the gorrick Merida brass monkeys, an event which I've really enjoyed in the past and it's great training. The 2 hour event is usually rammed full and this race was no different even though the weather was atrocious. The course held up well considering the conditions, but then the rain and number of riders carving it up finally got too much and it started to turn into a bit of a swamp. I finished 2 laps inside the 2 hour time limit but couldn't convince myself that I wanted to go round again and pulled the pin, like many others, feeling like anymore might be a risk of injury/illness. I finished in the top 30 feeling fairly happy with the training miles in the legs but absolutely freezing, plus it took ages after the race to get warm and dry again :)
 

 

Now I'm back in the training groove and looking forward to what 2015 holds, the first few sessions have been a challenge and feel fairly heavy legged but its starting to get "easier" again. 

Take it easy guys

Tom

Xterra World Championship Maui, Hawaii

Maui is an incredible place, from the people to the scenery, temperature and food. It was unbelievably hard to not just settle into holiday more and just chill out by the pool or on the beach, but that's not why we were here (well Hannah maybe but I had something to do first). As I sit here writing this on a damp Saturday in England, I could not feel further away from the heat, humidity and sunshine of Hawaii.


Take me back!

On my first recce of the practice bike course the heat and humidity were a bit of a shock to the system, and it was only the first 8 and last 5k. I had a look at the profile and so knew it started with about 5/6k of climbing straight out of transition that was going to be a challenge. But that heat, humidity and probably a bit of jet lag meant I was pushing into the red far earlier than I wanted. I soon learnt to drink more water, keep an eye on my effort levels and try not worry too much about it, it WILL get easier as I get used to the heat. This is the reason why we got there a week beforehand, to settle in and acclimatise. It was great fun and was already looking forward to riding more of it as they opened more later in the week.

1st day bike selfie :)

The next day I went out on the run course which followed the same 5k up the hill as the bike before plummeting back down like a ski run. It was more of a run walk than I wanted but I was keeping up with the some of the guys who were riding so I was fairly happy. There was also a horrible, uphill, switchback tarmac section about 1k from the finish that just looked like a wall from the bottom and then a 250m dash across the soft beach sand at the finish just to sap all the energy from your legs, this was a world champs course after all and it wasn't meant to be easy!! I took a bottle with me on this run and I'm glad I did as I was sweating buckets, the water stations were going to be vital on race day so I planned to stop at each one to make sure I stayed as hydrated and cool as possible.

 

Back out on the bike and into the stickiest and slimiest mud I've ever seen. I managed to get out for a full lap but my bike came back weighing at least double what it went out. There were a couple of really slick descents which were almost unrideable (had a little spill too :-D) but were great fun and really played to my strengths. I consider myself to be a decent bike handler so I knew I'd be able to make up a fair amount of time on some of the stronger swimmers/runners here. The first part of the course was nice tight singletrack before it opened up into wider fire roads, up and through the local farms and into the baking sun, before dropping back down into the singletrack and transition. The hotel had obviously thought about not having muddy bikes traipsed back to their rooms, so had put out a decent bike washing facilities. Also handy as they doubled as a quick shower with the number of riders cleaning bikes in a small space, we probably got just as soaked as the bikes did!

Most days started or finished with a swim in the sea which was so warm it felt wrong to be able to stay in it for so long without turning an odd shade of purple/blue. Whether it was ins and outs practice or longer loops out to the race day turn buoys it was great fun, but not having had much experience at swimming in surf that large it really was quite daunting to start with. Thankfully after a few wise words from the pros it did get easier. One day on the way out to the buoys a group of us were investigated by a pod of about 12 wild dolphins, something that I'm never going to forget and its strange how mesmerised you become by them. They hung around circling for about 5 minutes before they disappeared as quickly as they arrived. Amazing stuff.

The swim course

Race morning dawned and I've never felt so relaxed before a big event. I felt like I'd done all I could to prepare myself and was in a good place. It was also the easiest morning before a race too, stroll down to transition to set up which was in the hotel garden, check everything over and then walk down to the hotels beach for the start of the swim for a final few ins and outs. Of course the nerves were there by now but I could feed off them and just wanted to get going.

After the blessing from the local priest, who's a bit of a legend, the cannon went of for the pro's to go first followed by a huge roar and applause. The cannon fired again to start our wave and off we went into possibly the largest set of waves I'd seen all day! This made it great fun ducking and diving the waves and making the most of the dolphin dives learnt earlier in the week. Once out in open water the swell was still large so sighting was important, had to make sure I waited for the swell to pick me up so that I could see over the waves and heads in front of me. After a few duckings round the turn it was back to the beach for the mid swim run which was an interesting feature. Running on the soft was fairly cruel, but I found I was actually able to recover a little from the effort of fighting the white water. Plus it was amazing to run through the corridor of noise and cheers that was created by all the spectators!

Mid swim jog

Finishing the swim and a quick blast up the hill into T1 and out onto the bike, where I'm at my happiest and tend to make up a few spaces (about 200 on the day!). I quickly settled into a nice rhythm just ticking the legs over up the 1st big hill with a decent bunch. As usual few people were trying to barge their way, and as usual most of the line picked them off as we got closer to the top. 30k is quite a long way off road and especially in the heat so there was plenty of time to pick up the pace later on and now was not the time to start pushing hard. Thankfully the course had dried up a lot and most of the course was rideable, there were a few sections in the trees where it was quicker to push than ride, but it was great fun flying down the descents and then grovelling back up to the top. The final 5k was all about staying concentrated and ensuring there were no mistakes at this point, most of it was downhill with a few punchy climbs thrown in for good measure, perfect for spinning the legs into T2

Heading out on the bike

The run was a battle, it always was going to be! A battle against the course, heat and fatigued legs from the bike. THAT first 5k was a grim mix of feeling ok, feeling a bit off, 'oh god its hot' and I need to walk, all in random sections and not necessarily in that order. I managed to catch and have a chat with an American about half way up and we worked together for a couple of K before he seized up and had to stop, cheers bud. Once at the top it was nice to be able to let the legs run down the hill but as the course was so twisty and technical, it had to be controlled. Which of course then led to a slightly different fatigue in the quads, but at least the pain was shifting around :) Back to the tarmac climb and I managed to 'run' the whole way up, I was ecstatic and carried that momentum on down to the beach, through the sand and onto the finish. A muscle milk and a great selection of fruit later, I was starting to feel normal again. What a great race, can we do it all again next week??

FINISHED!

The race went really well and I'm so proud of getting there let alone the result 405th overall, 286th in the age groupers and 29th in the 20's-24's. I'm currently enjoying a nice, relaxing off season and looking forward to getting back into training for next year soon, with the aim of getting back to the xterra world champs for 2015. 

We finished off a great trip with a few more days on the island to have a bit of an explore, chill out and eat everything in sight. Also one day on a road trip to Hana (thoroughly recommend it) I proposed to Hannah to which she eventually said yes, for some reason she didn't believe me, we've only been together 5 years ;-) So overall we had a great couple of weeks. 

Until next time

Take it easy

Tom

The road to Maui

Triathlon seems to "run" in my family, not necessarily immediately obvious, but it's in there somewhere. I have always been active and that is due to my family and being encouraged to take up a variety of sports as a kid, so the blueprint was always there. This of course doesn't mean that its been a perfect transition into the discipline of 3 (especially when it comes to swimming) but it did give me a great start. At the end of my second year of tri, it feels hugely satisfying and quite daunting to say that I've been to a world championships in a hugely competitive sport, smiled the whole way through and  after a few weeks off, already feel ready to jump into the next years training so that I can try and do it all over again!

Having a large family is great, especially when most are older than you as it means you have lots of role models to look up to and try to copy. So when a few results in triathlon from my cousins started to appear it caught my attention. It wasn't straight away that I started, the fear of the swim put paid to that, but it was something that I couldn't ignore. Eventually I pulled my finger out and signed up to the 2013 Blenheim Palace sprint tri, and I'm so glad I did. The Blenheim Palace tri may only be a sprint but its an enormous event, with crowds lining the transition area, the 'lovely' 400m run up the hill from the swim and then the final stretch of the bike an run. The fact that it's set in the private grounds with traffic free roads and amazing scenery, kind of spoils you and makes you think that every tri should be like this! I was well and truly hooked and ready to do another one, unfortunately a crash in a road race put me out for a month or so, but meant I was even hungrier when the next few races came round. My final race of the season was the Xterra England sprint. My background is mainly in XC mountain biking so where I lose places in the swim, I tend to make them up on the bike and hold on for the run. This is even more true when it comes to Xterra as some triathletes bike handling skills can be questionable and meant I came home in a very happy 14th place and also bitten by the Xterra bug. I entered the Championship race for 2014 as soon as I could and couldn't wait to give it a go.

Vachery Sprint- 2013

After a long, cold winter of training (including my first half marathon raising over £500 for Crohn's and Colitis UK) it was time to start the season again and this meant we were off to Blenheim. Another great race, a little colder this time due to the rain that only stopped as I crossed the finish line but 6 minutes better this year and happy to be racing again. Another sprint followed at Marlow, a nicely run little event with a few large hills, but then it was time to take on an Olympic distance event. The bike and run were never going to be a problem, it was the swim that held the fear. A lot of time was spent in the pool training for the first one which was to be at Eton Dorney (nice and flat!) and it seemed to pay off. The swim was 2 laps, the first lap felt great and I started to struggle towards the end of the second, but I made it round! Not much happened on the bike and run, its pretty flat and windy at Dorney, but I finish in 2hrs 34mins and was satisfied with my time and the day. Next up was the London Triathlon, another huge event but lacking something for my liking. Perhaps it was just the course set for the Saturday that just felt like you were riding around the car park, rather than the Sunday course that headed further into London, however the swim in Docklands was quite impressive and the sheer number of people in one place was cool, but it wasn't an event that had me ready to go back and do it again.

Then it was the one it felt like I'd been waiting forever for, Xterra England, especially as there was a point where it was going to be cancelled as the organisers had back out! I had set it down as an experience gaining event as I wanted to qualify for the Xterra worlds the next year. However after an average swim, a bike that I didn't want to end as the course was great fun (plus a fly over from the red arrows felt really special) and a run on the edge of cramp, I finished and was high enough up my age group ranking to be in with a chance of qualifying for the Worlds. To be honest, at this time it hadn't even crossed my mind that I could be going, I thought the space was gone as there were some quick guys there. Until 1 month later that I received the email saying that I had a roll down space! I laughed nervously for a bit, checked it was real, went a bit quiet and then realized what I'd done, I had qualified for the Xterra World Championships! I was a bit of a giddy mess for the rest of the day, which doesn't really help when you're at work, but people seemed to understand :)

Xterra England- 2014

I had planned on winding down the season from there, not ramping it up, so the nice relaxing week away to Cornwall that was booked with my girlfriend (Hannah) and the dog (Harvey), turned into the perfect training camp. Hilly runs with Harvey and bike rides to no-where a plenty, with relaxing evenings with the feet up watching series after series of Breaking Bad with Hannah were just what I needed to kick on. The weeks when we returned and trying to book everything ready for the trip were stressful but well worth it. Hawaii is an amazing place to visit and race in, but I'll tell you more about that next time...

Take it easy
Tom

Harvey after one of our Cornish runs

Where to begin...

So welcome to my blog, I hope you like it and carry on visiting!
I plan to share with you my racing, training and general life thoughts whether you like it or not :) So if you have any feedback, please leave it in the comments section as I'd love to hear what you guys think.
2014 has been a great year with some really high points that you'll soon hear about with places and events that I thought I'd never get to see let alone take part in, here's to more of the same in 2015!
Take it easy
Tom