My first 2 races triathlon races of the season couldn't have been raced in any different conditions. Cupar 2weeks ago was a glorious spring day, warm with no wind. Compare that to Gala last weekend where race day conditions were cold, wet and windy. So cold that people were dropping out after the bike due being frozen.
Cupar was the ideal racing conditions, yet I didn't feel I raced to my best. After a good swim with probably my equal best ever pool swim, then it was on to the bike with the competition in sight when I left transition, I was confident I could keep with them on the rolling roads of Fife after my strong bike at the Stirling Duathlon. However I just didn't seem to happen, no matter how much I tried to push on on the bike I just seemed to loose ground, before being caught coming to the tail end of the bike by Andy Fish and Ian Logan, who I thought I was well clear of.
Going into the run I thought I was sitting in 7th places and knew I had to hammer the run to get anywhere near the podium. Leaving T2 with Ian Logan I pushed hard to try and get away from him from the start and catch Andy, which I succeeded in doing however was unable to run anyone else down and was was sure I would finish in 5th. However it turned out that David Ogg who I thought was in front of me, was actually behind me and Steve Clark had punctured on the bike, so I finished in 3rd. Pleased with the placing, but not 100% pleased with the performance, hopefully Gala would be better.
Going into Gala I wasn't optimistic about a great race as I picked up a sore throat after Cupar and only trained twice the prior week to racing. Perhaps that forced rest was the best thing for me as come race day I felt great, I had a PB in the pool and on the bike I felt like I was able to maintain I high power through the duration of the race, which was reflected in my power tap date with a higher average from Gala than I had in Cupar.
Coming off the bike I was in 1st place with Andy Fish hot on my heals coming in to T2, after both our run performances the previous week I was confident in out running Andy and the rest of the Field, however still pushed on hard for the first of 2 laps over a great cross country run course. Coming to start the second lap one of the marshalls said in was in the clear with no one in sight, so I was happy that my fast first lap had been successful in putting distance between myself and the rest of the Field. Coming down the home stretch I was feeling confident about selling my first win of the season, until I heard some footsteps behind me, who to be honest I thought was a back marker trying to sprint me, so I kicked to get to the line first. As it turned out the athlete chasing me down wasn't a back marker, he was a modern pentathlete giving triathlon a tri and doing it rather well as he had ran me down for over 1minute, a very impressive run. Saying that though I did manage to hold on for my first win off the season, and was very happy with all elements of my race, everything went well except from my second transition, my hands were that numb I struggled to get my trainers on. Hopefully the weather wont be so bad next time and my entire race will be perfect.
Thanks to East Fife tri and BSLT for organising 2 great races.
Monday, 19 April 2010
Friday, 9 April 2010
The season is finally here
For what seems to have been a long, cold and white winter, spring has finally arrived and with it the start of the 2010 racing season. And what a way to start, my opening race was the Scottish Duathlon Championships which was also a qualifying race for the World Duathlon Champs in September at Edinburgh's Arthur Seat.
Going into the race I was not sure what to expect as I had only been back to full running for about 4weeks after suffering from shin splints over the holidays. The good think about being a multidisciplinary athlete meant that as I was not able to run I could spend more time working on my strength and biking which is possibly the weak link in my racing.
It was a very windy morning on race day with the flat Stirling bike course offering no shelter. The wind wasn't an issue on the run as we wound our way through the business park 4 times on the first 1ok run. With not having the running miles in my legs, I purposely started the run at a slightly reserved pace with the plan of increasing the pace as I went through.
For once I actually did as I planned, as I would normally plan to pace the run and end up going off with the leaders and then fading. This time once we all settled into position I progressively worked my through the Field picking people off every lap finishing the run in 10th place.
On to the bike and time to find out if all that strength work and bike miles had payed off. My main goal is always to limit the places I lose, so being well placed on the run I was expecting the Field to come charging passed me at some point. However it never happened, Craig Dale passed at the start of the 40k and from then onwards it was myself and Frank Boyne out on the course battling with each other to keep our run advantage. It wasn't until winding though the University that Catriona Morrison came by and the three of us entering T2 together.
Franks marginal lead going into T2 saw him out on to the run before me and that was how it stayed with the final 5k run highlighting my lack of speed work as I was struggling to make any ground on those in fornt. I finished the race in 10th place, 3rd in my age group (25-29) so totally delighted to have qualified. With the worlds not til September, I can spend the summer getting my run speed up and getting stronger on the bike. Home course for the Worlds so plan to get plenty of training on the course.
This weekend I have my first triathlon at Cupar, Fife. This time I'll get to see how my swimming coming along, here's hoping it goes as well as my biking.
Going into the race I was not sure what to expect as I had only been back to full running for about 4weeks after suffering from shin splints over the holidays. The good think about being a multidisciplinary athlete meant that as I was not able to run I could spend more time working on my strength and biking which is possibly the weak link in my racing.
It was a very windy morning on race day with the flat Stirling bike course offering no shelter. The wind wasn't an issue on the run as we wound our way through the business park 4 times on the first 1ok run. With not having the running miles in my legs, I purposely started the run at a slightly reserved pace with the plan of increasing the pace as I went through.
For once I actually did as I planned, as I would normally plan to pace the run and end up going off with the leaders and then fading. This time once we all settled into position I progressively worked my through the Field picking people off every lap finishing the run in 10th place.
On to the bike and time to find out if all that strength work and bike miles had payed off. My main goal is always to limit the places I lose, so being well placed on the run I was expecting the Field to come charging passed me at some point. However it never happened, Craig Dale passed at the start of the 40k and from then onwards it was myself and Frank Boyne out on the course battling with each other to keep our run advantage. It wasn't until winding though the University that Catriona Morrison came by and the three of us entering T2 together.
Franks marginal lead going into T2 saw him out on to the run before me and that was how it stayed with the final 5k run highlighting my lack of speed work as I was struggling to make any ground on those in fornt. I finished the race in 10th place, 3rd in my age group (25-29) so totally delighted to have qualified. With the worlds not til September, I can spend the summer getting my run speed up and getting stronger on the bike. Home course for the Worlds so plan to get plenty of training on the course.
This weekend I have my first triathlon at Cupar, Fife. This time I'll get to see how my swimming coming along, here's hoping it goes as well as my biking.
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