Tapering really does work

It's was a pretty quite week last week with the British champs in Northumberland at the weekend gone by. I was really just trying to recover from the past 2weeks of training and racing hard. Most of the sessions were aerobic in nature with maybe a few short tempo efforts so as not to have heavy legs for the weekend.

For me I like to have at least one short hard session in a taper week to make sure the body does not switch off completely. For this I choose the Portobello 4 mile running race, which was ideally organised for the Thursday before the champs.

As much as I do favour running out of the 3 triathlon disciplines, I never really know the competition at running races, so it's always nice turning up at races and just concentrating on my own race as I don't know any of the other runners and their abilities. So come race start I just lined up on the start line at front and just see what I could do.

The race is practically flat the whole way, except for a short drag to bring you off the prom just before the end of the 1st mile. I was sitting in second place at this point and decided to hit the front and push the pace going up the drag and see what would happen. I used this tactic last year and I managed to break the field and stay away, so hopefully the same tactics work. They did, I managed to string the Field out and get away from everyone, except for one runner.


We managed to work well together heading back along the prom into some strong cross winds, until about 2.5 miles where he decided to up the pace ever so slightly and as much as I tried to go with him, I just was capable. For the 2 of us the positions remained the same until the end, I had hoped he might have gone to early and I would be bale to pull him back nearing the finish, but he's a very strong runner and he was able to stay away.

Thoughts from the race, yes I would have loved to reclaim my title from the previous year, that aside, I posted a quicker time this year and it was tougher conditions so happy with the out come and the way I'm running. All bodes well for British Champs.


The British Olympic distance champs are always competitive races and from my pre race cycle of the bike course, it looked like it was going to be a quick course with a practically pan flat 7laps on the bike making up the 40k course.

Race day morning conditions were ideal for racing, over cast and what appeared to very little wind. The start of the swim for once was not a boxing match as the 100 odd athletes in the lake were well spread out on the start line. I was really happy with my swim as I was able to get into a fast rhythm from the gun and managed to get clear water all the way to the first buoy. At the midway point of the swim I was swimming side by side with another swimmer, seen as neither of us were making any ground on each other I decided to make a b-line for his feet and get a good draft to the finish.

Exiting the water and on to the bike and it was going to be no stop power all the way round no real hills on descents on the course. The up side to having a 7 lap bike course means there are constantly people on the course for you to chase down, even if they were off in heats before you, psychologically it's great to be passing so many riders. My big aim for the bike was to stay ahead of David Moffat for as long as possible. With him catching me on the bike after 5k last week at Peebles, I was really wanting to improve on that performance. And improve I did, I managed to hold him off until half way round the 6th lap and managed to hold his pace until the start of the final lap before he managed to get out of sight on the twisty course.

On to the run and I was planning on pushing the pace after my good run performance at porty on Thursday. Before starting the run I already know it was a short 10k, possibly only even 8.5-9k which originally I was disappointed about as I normally like to capitalise on my good running to pull people back. However after that flat bike course my legs were not quick as strong as they could be and it took me the first lap of 3 to get into my running pace. From this point I was able run well and pick off a lot of runners in front of me. However with it being a 3lap course your never sure if your making up places or lapping athletes, so it was just run everyone down I saw.

Overall I was really pleased with the race, finishing 6th in the 25-29 age group (I was aiming for top 10), one place behind David. Good race from the 2 Scottish boys.

There was a large number of Edinburgh RC and ET members at the race as well with Penny flying as always winning gold in the J category and Louise taking Bronze in the F category. Well done guy's excellent performances. Lets take this form into the Scottish Champs in a few weeks.

A good weeks training

With having 3 races, three weeks in a row, culminating in the British Olympic distance championships next weekend, I decided to get some good base miles in before racing at Peebles.

It's something I've been missing since the start of the season as I had turned my attention to speed work and cut back my long sessions. Post Ironman last year I really felt speed work was the way forward for the shorter distance races. However I really think that keeping aerobic sessions going over the summer are crucial to getting faster, training is a fine balance of aerobic and threshold work. Plus how could you not want to run in the Pentlands when you get weather like we've been having, it's such an amazing place to train.

Going into the Peebles race on Sunday I thought I might be a little tired, particularly with the long run in the Pentlands on Friday, however I was feeling really good. I was hoping to get close to 10mins on the swim and during it I really thought it was possible as I felt relaxed and smooth through the water and I was in a good lane where I ended up sharing the pace with one of the other guys in the lane, however we ended a little off the pace. On to the bike and I know I had to give it everything as David Moffat would be out the water soon and chasing me down. With a slight tail wind out I really felt like I was flying, however David was also flying and he caught me 5k in. I managed to keep him in sight to the turn but thanks to those windy traquare roads he managed to get out of sight on the way home. Onto the run and there was only 5k left to catch David so I put everything I had left into the run, I know I had 2nd place wrapped up but I wasn't happy to settle for 2nd place, I was running really well and able to keep a fast pace all the way round the route. However David was equally as stubborn as my self and wasn't going to give up his lead with out a fight.

The race finished with David first and myself second, another great borders series event. If you haven't raced the borders series before, then you should get yourself down there, great roads, great routes and well organised races.

Next weekend off to Northumberland for the British champs.

Finally things are starting to come together

So far the 2009 triathlon season has not gotten off to as good a start as I'd hoped. After a great winter training and some promising pre season race results (1st Deerstalker, 7th Edinburgh half Marathon) I was really excited going into the start of the season. Unfortunately as so often is the case when you are racing well and overloading your body training, you end up opening up yourself to infection. Unfortunately this was the case and I came down with a bug over Easter and ended up missing the first race of the season which was really disappointing, but these things happen so not to worry, a few tweaks to the original training plan and all will be back on track.

After a few tough races and getting back to base training it finally looks like things are starting to come together with a 5th place finish at the Stirling sprint triathlon last weekend.

Stirling is possibly one of my favourite Scottish races, which seems to be a popular feeling with so many others as the race filled up way back in April, I had to end up banking on other competitors dropping out as I hadn't gotten my entry in fast enough, note for future, enter Stirling as soon as it opens.

Amongst the entry were names like Stuart Fraser and Fraser Cartmell both of whom are Elite long distance athletes who lead the charge at the front of the Field with Fraser running away for the win in 58:32, almost 4mins ahead of 2nd place. Fraser looks likes he's on good form to defend his Ironman UK 70.3 title later in the month, all the best Fraser.

On my race I was really happy with my swim putting in a pb in the pool 10:28, which is strange as I really didn't feel that strong in the pool so hopefully that's a promising sign for things to come, looks like all that time in Porty sea is paying off. On to the bike and I was hoping for a strong bike after setting a new pb at the Kirky 10 on Wednesday, however it just didn't seem to be 100% there, but I did have a good battle with AndyBuchanan with us passing each other several times before he managed to get away from me just before we started to head back to the Uni. With Running being my strongest discipline I was confident I would be able to run him down however it was tougher than I had expected with me not being able to pass Andy until the start of the second lap, Cheers for the support Hugh it definitely helped at that point.

All in all happy with the out come of the race, 9th out the pool and finishing 5th with the 3rd fastest run of the day. Good day at the office, with plenty more to come.

Next week Peebles sprint and another head to head with David Moffat.