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
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