And so it begins!

The triathlon season has well and truly begun again and spring is in full effect, what a great time of year this is! I used the Nuffield Health Eton SuperSprints to kick off my year and to help iron out any early season wrinkles before my 'A' races next month, and to also introduce a friend to the wonderful world of triathlon.

As a Nuffield Health employee it was great to see them as the Title partner of a tri with Human Race, so when the offer of a place came up I Jumped at the chance. We also all have that friend too who has mentioned that they'd love to give tri a go but haven't quite taken the final leap of faith and entered, so I did it for him! Marty is a rugby player so not quite the standard triathlete shape (is there even a standard triathlete shape anymore??), but he teaches a lot of classes and can run pretty well to be fair to him so I knew once he got out of the water he'd be fine. He SMASHED it and has well and truly got the bug and is already asking when his next one is. You should've seen the smile on both of our faces when he finished :D

My race had the standard 1st race errors, not quite giving enough time to get ready and set-up before the start and a couple of rusty transitions but overall I'm happy with how it went. Starting from the back of the pack in the swim meant I had to go round/through a lot of small groups but meant that I could also use a few for drafting. I felt really strong on the bike and was able to keep a good cadence ticking over in a higher gear than last year, only really loosing out to the guys on aero bikes. The best bit of the whole day though was the run. I've worked hard on my running through the winter (not to say I've not done so on the swim or bike) and I really felt the difference. Being able to start quick and get quicker was amazing and the feeling of being able to reel in the guys and finish with a sprint to grab another place on the line, incredible. 27th overall and 3rd in age group, I'll take that as a cross triathlete masquerading as a roadie. Have to say a big thanks to ashmei too, the tri-suit had its first outing and it performed faultlessly. I didn't really notice I had it on at any point during the day it was that comfortable, I think that is really the best thing you can ask for from a suit 10/10.

The countdown is now on for my big races and I couldn't be happier with where I currently am with my training. I still can't sing the praises of my coaches highly enough (thanks Jacqui & Ben) and would recommend anyone who wants to improve their times/enjoyment of the sport to go ahead and get booked in with a coach- what's the worst that could happen?? We're just 18 days out from Xterra Belgium and 32 days from the ETU European Cross Champs at Xterra Switzerland, June is going to be a busy month! My swim is coming along nicely and I don't really see it as my weak link anymore. I'm feeling stronger than ever on the bike being able to push the pace and then recover quickly and as mentioned earlier I've never enjoyed running so much. So lets see what we can do this year, it's going to be a BIG one!

For now though
Take it easy
Tom

Swings and Roundabouts

I was hoping to be writing this post about my first race back of the season, the Hole Park Cross-Duathlon. However that plan was scuppered by catching the office bug that had been threatening to take hold for the last month or so, that hit with perfect timing to drag me into a grumpy snotty mess for the Easter Bank Holiday weekend.
Any athlete who is training alongside a full time job always has that thought in the back/front/whole of their mind of how far could they go if they had the chance to train full time. What could they do if they got the chance to wholly focus on training and racing without fitting it around the precious time that they have outside of work, their free time for which they can dedicate to whatever they want, whilst still of course reminding your family of what you look like. This is why our weekends are cherished so dearly as we get to decide when, where and how to train without worrying if we'll get to work on time or if we'll be able to miss the traffic and make it to the pool/track/wilderness before it closes/gets dark. Even better are long Bank Holiday weekends like the one just gone by for Easter, where we get the chance to have 4 whole days in a row of solid back to back training days with the added incentive of eating (more) chocolate. It's fair to say that I always look forward to the Easter break.

For the past few weeks I have been feeling a little under the weather, a little bit off but nothing too major to throw much of my training off. A couple of days here and there where I couldn't quite hit the reps, sets or times wanted but still able to get some quality sessions in. I didn't think much of this until the Wednesday before Easter when it all got a bit worse; sore throat, blocked up head and a bit spaced out. I knew I had finally succumbed to the office bug. A coldy/fluish bug that's made it's way through pretty much every department at one point and had hit a few colleagues in the weeks before. By Thursday it had officially hit and I retreated home early from work to collapse on the sofa and a 3 hour sleep followed, just in time to scupper those weekend plans of miles and smiles.
Now from here this post could quite easily have descended into self pity and cursing at cyclist I saw riding past my window enjoying the early spring sunshine (this might have happened). But instead to my surprise, I quickly found a new perspective on the enforced rest. I had the chance to veg out on the sofa, watch some films and eat chocolate whilst my better half looked after me (she did pretty well to put up with me to be honest). Yes I was still thoroughly hacked off to be ill and not able to do what I wanted, but for the first time I think ever, I was able to accept it and just get on with recovering. I must be getting old!

Hannah's form of sympathy...

This led me to look back at my recent training and how happy I am with how far I've come on since teaming up with B&J Racing. Coaching really does work and if you're thinking about signing up with a coach, be it long or short term, I would really recommend that you jump in and commit fully to it. It's not an automatic ticket to improvement, you still have to put in the hard work, but knowing with every session that you're ticking off that you are moving in the right direction, at the right pace and with the right recovery. It's a great feeling.
Now looking forward I have a few xc mountain bike races in the next few weeks and then I'll be travelling to some local and then some not so local cross-triathlons in Europe. With 4 days of very light training under my belt since starting to feel human again, fingers crossed I'm out the other side of this bug. I cannot wait to get going again with training properly and now that the days are getting longer, warmer and brighter, it's going to be a great season.


But for now ladies and gents do like have been, take it easy :)
Tom

Exciting times

 

Sooo it's been a while since my last post, I've decided as a late New Years resolution (it still counts right??) that I will be keeping on top of this blog and updating it as regularly as possible.

First thing first lets have a look at last year. My aims were to carry on improving my swim, bike and run, travel to as many Xterra/mountain bike/running races as possible and to continue loving the sport so that it never becomes a chore. I can quite easily say I've ticked off all three of those goals. My fitness has jumped massively (mainly due to working with a couple of the best Xterra athletes/coaches in the world) most noticeably in the swim which has gone from back of the pack straggler to mixing it up in the middle of the bunch and I'm still gaining huge chunks of time in training. Travelling firstly to the ETU Cross European champs and then the ITU Cross World champs as a Team GB age grouper was incredible and has started new friendships and opened my eyes as to where I want to be as an athlete. Last of all I love my sport, I love the training and I love the people meaning you can't help but have fun. This is hugely important to me as if I didn't enjoy any part of the training or racing, it just would not happen.

Heading to T1 of ITU Cross WC, Sardinia

Also I am thrilled to have been selected by the lovely people of ashmei (and I'm not just saying that, they really are nice) to be an ambassador for 2016. This is some of the nicest gear I have ever seen, with a mixture of style and performance in every garment you can really tell that they care about everything they make. The main attraction is in the property of the material they use, merino wool, which works to keep you warm in the cold and cool in the hot whilst not stinking once you warm up, what more could an athlete ask for?? Plus with a tag line of 'Outperform the best' you know they've got the idea. Keep an eye out in later posts for reviews and updates as my relationship with ashmei develops and go have a look at their stuff, it really is top notch.

Right that's it for me for now but I promise it won't be as long until the next one :)
Take it easy
Tom