The Year So Far

I know right. Another blog entry. Already.

The year started off as the season before: in a huge blur. Time seems to merge. Days suddenly become weeks; then months. Its mid-May and Christmas feels like yesterday. Know what I mean? I’m guessing I’m not the only one?

Well after the comedown of Worlds in September, a week or so recovering (consisting of eating, sleeping and a little less training) I had to get back into the swing of things. Winter traditionally is where triathletes, “get the miles in”. Off season doesn’t seem to be anything at all. When you factor in Cross Country season it is even shorter.

World Triathlon Championships 2013

I raced well through the cross season, with a small lapse in the middle. At the end, with a chance to take a look back, I had finished with a 33^rd place at North Eastern Championships including a Team Silver; 149^th at the Northern Cross Country Championships and, 268^th at the National Cross Country Championships. I was happy.

National Cross Country Championships 2014

Heaton Memorial 10KM

One of my goals for the season was to record a sub 35 minute 10km. I had entered a road race, late in the year (November 2013) and had decided that this could be a good benchmark, in order to tackle my goal in the middle of 2014. I went into the race blind. I didn’t know the standard of field, and had a fairly reduced, and what I thought to be, reasonable target of running somewhere around 37/39 minutes. Oh and I had never run a 10km before.  A good tester though, I thought. Ok, so for want of a better phrase. I nailed it. It was as close to a perfect race as I’ve had. 34 Minutes and 32 Seconds. I’d finished 9^th. 

Heaton Harriers Memorial 10KM - November 2013

It’s Hotting Up

With the triathlon season approaching and the cross country season over, the first race was BUCS Biathlon. I won’t bore you. It wasn’t my event. It never will be. A 1500m Track Race followed by a 200m Swim, with a break in between. I ran ok but my swim was disappointing, which left me finishing somewhere in the middle. A near 600 mile round trip too. Never mind, onwards and upwards. Work to be done.

BUCS Biathlon 2014

British Elite Duathlon Championships

Elite racing; one terrifying concept. The prospect of racing against the top triathlete and duathletes in the country was a fantastic opportunity. One that I eagerly accepted. The downside was that I wasn’t sure whether or not I would be fired out of the back on the first run. Fortunately this wasn’t the case. With the first opportunity to race alongside some of the TriPack, I managed to hold my own on the first run and after a few minutes on the bike, I settled into a rhythm.

Elite racing is a different style compared to other, non-drafting races. A draft legal bike meant that you can sit as close behind someone on the bike as possible, in order to conserve energy. After managing to stay with a group on the bike, I found myself in a small pack on the second run. The race tempo increased, and after a fast 2.5km, I had enough to finish at the front of the group. It was a great experience, one that I would love to do again. To top it off I had finished in the top 30; 29^th to be exact.

British Elite Duathlon Championships 2014 - The TriPack (Pre-Race)

British Elite Duathlon Championships 2014 - The TriPack (Post Race)

 

BUCS 25 TT

In honesty, this scared me. The cost and beauty of most of the bikes on show was phenomenal. I felt a bit humble on my roady, but she’s fantastic.  I’d raced a few 10 mile time trials before, but never a 25. Going into the race I knew what was a good time to achieve. On the other hand, I knew what was a not so good one.

The event was once again in Oxford. Shock. This meant another day of travelling and racing. Another 600 mile round trip. Prior to this race, I hadn’t really done much on the road. Cold and wet weather had meant that most of the winter I spent confined to training indoors on the turbo trainer.

BUCS 25 Mile Time Trial - 2014

In hindsight, I was a bit unprepared. Sorting my bike and getting to the start line had taken most of my time, so when started had released me I didn’t know what I was aiming for. The advice I was given by numerous people was “It’s not a 10, so you can’t just smash it” and “stay switched on, keep it steady”. This helped. Did I listen? Perhaps not so much but I tried too. I hadn’t done a 10 in a year or two so I went out hard, but something that wasn’t “in the red” as they say.

If you had asked me prior to the race what would be your ideal time, I’d have said one hour. I knew this wasn’t realistic. What would in I be happy with after travelling 600 miles? I’d have settled for sub 1:06:00/1:07:00. Anything slower than a 1:10:00 I would have been disappointed, but would have taken it as experience. Approaching the turn, just over half way, I was well up on my target. I continued to push. With three miles to go, I was still well under the one hour mark. I continued to push and work hard, finishing in a 1:01:15. I was stunned, elated and shattered. The journey back home was a lot better thanks to this.

BUCS Sprint

This was the season opener. The first test. How would I fair? I was aiming for a top 50 finish. With the improvement I had made from my 1^st year to 2^nd year (mentioned in my first blog “So here we go”) I hoped I could sneak inside the top 50. I’ll leave the location to your imagination, but let’s say it was about a 600 mile round trip. You got it?

St Mary's School, Calne - BUCS Sprint Triathlon 2014

Another fantastic day, with an unusually late start for a triathlon. I’m not complaining though. Having accidentally been entered into a much faster swim wave than I should have been. I found myself well behind after the swim. I was lapped more times than I care to remember.  After a reasonably good bike, I felt strong onto the run. I finished overall in 38^th position, with the 12^th fastest run split. Delighted with the result, forwards to the next race.

BUCS Sprint Triathlon 2014 - T2

If you got this far, thank you for reading. I really do appreciate it. If you enjoyed it, why not share it with someone? Again, I tried to keep it brief. Now I have my 2014 so far summary done, I will be able to update more regularly and therefore shorter. If you have any comments or feedback, I would love to hear them. You can use the form on the right.

Thank you!!

Sam

So Here We Go

Firstly, Welcome. I don’t know how this will go but I hope to keep you entertained. So this shouldn’t be too long.

I decided to start a blog to keep family members and friends up to date with my goings on in Triathlon. Living away from home at University it’s tough to tell everyone and keep them all up to date. So if you have a few minutes and fancy casting your eyes here then you are more than welcome.

My journey to the World Championships. My 2013 Round up.

2013 was my first committed and competitive year in triathlon, after making the decision to train alongside my University education. I raced a couple of races early on in the season to see how I would fair. I didn’t have a clue what to expect. What I did know is that my first year at University had been a great start to training and that entering second year (2012/2013) I had a great base to start from for what I class as my first competitive season.

My first race was BUCS Sprint triathlon. I finished in 53rd place, an improvement on 126th the year before. I was chuffed. I’d gone in hoping to finish better than I had the previous year, and I did. The extra year of stepping up training and taking things slightly more serious seemed to be paying off.

BUCS Sprint Triathlon Championships 2013 - That's me, on the right.

At this time I had already entered two World Sprint Triathlon Championships Qualifying races. This was due to my coach, who races himself, had mentioned that Worlds was in fact in Hyde Park, London. What better motivation could I hope for?

I’d registered to qualify and turned up to my first of the two qualifiers. The Nottingham Triathlon. This was held at the National Water Sports Centre. I arrived and was awestruck at the magnitude of the event. Did I mention it was the British Sprint Triathlon Championships also? What had I let myself in for? In hindsight not knowing the standard of the field was probably for the best. I raced to the best of my ability and was shocked and extremely pleased to find I had finished inside the top 10. Once I had recovered my breath and checked out my times, I found out that I had finished in 9th. It’s safe to say that I was very happy with both my performance and position.

The second of the two qualifiers was in a seaside town in Northern Wales. The Llandudno Sea Triathlon. It was, as the phrase goes, “Exactly what it says on the tin”. A sea swim. Something I didn’t have much experience with. My thoughts were that if it took a pool swimmer out of there comfort zone then it could only help. If you couldn’t tell, I am far from a swimmer. Imagine Bambi on Ice. You get the picture anyway. After a slightly disappointing swim, the great Orme beckoned. Twice! I survived that and finished with a very pleasing run. I had finished 4th in my age category and was elated to find that performance was enough to seal a World Championship spot.

I know, I know. Boring right? I’m nearly there.

The next step was the World Sprint Triathlon Championships.

First though, just a quick jump back. When I was at BUCS Sprint championships, I’d been preparing to enter the pool and started speaking to a lad from Bangor University, to keep it short, he turned out being a friend of one of my best friends who happened to go to his University. This was the beginning, for me at least, of the TriPack. A few other triathletes he would meet in the forthcoming weeks at the European Triathlon Championships decided to create a new Race Team. A team of dedicated young triathletes who wanted to take on the Triathlon scene, with a bang.

Another race day arrived pre-Worlds. I decided to get into the swing with a race at Carlisle. The Carlisle Sprint Triathlon. After another good performance, I was shocked to find out I had finished in 2nd place overall. I was made up.

Carlisle Triathlon 2013 - 2nd Place Overall

After this my final race, before the big one, was a Super-Sprint. A new concept called Go-Tri. The last chance to make sure everything was ok. Wetsuit and transition practice if you will. With strong competition against older friends and coach, I managed to finish in 4th place. It was a great evening in late August, relaxed atmosphere and overall well organised race in Northumberland to get the legs moving.

World Sprint Triathlon Championships

In a flash the September was upon us and it was the morning of the World Sprint Triathlon Championships. Friday 13th September. Was that an omen?

I hadn’t really had much time to think about how I had arrived at this point. With the chance to look back now, I’m thinking that if you had told me at the start of the year, pre BUCS, I would have qualified to race for Great Britain at Age Group level, I would most likely have laughed.

Nonetheless I was here, and after racking my bike the night before, thought I was ready to race. How wrong was I? After doing my pre-race checks I noticed a puncture in my front wheel. A shard of glass from the path in Hyde Park had given me a flat. Panic ensued! Five minutes before transition closed and twenty minutes before my race. Thankfully my Dad was there, and after my panicking and him calmly changing my inner tube I was ready to go within five minutes. It was fantastic work; something I am hugely grateful for. I would like to state that I couldn’t have done it without him, and whilst I am in a thankful mood, my mum either. It was fantastic that they came to support.

World Triathlon Championships 2013 - Quick repair! Very quick.

Into the holding pen we went. I was alongside three fellow members of the TriPack. This helped a lot to settle the nerves I had been carrying for the past two days since arriving in London.

World Triathlon Championships 2013 - Holding Pen (with the TriPack)

After a steady swim, (slow; as always!) I found myself once again chasing, catching and overtaking as many people on the bike as was possible. Having finished the bike leg, I made as quick a transition as was humanly possible to get out onto the run. I felt at my most relaxed during the run, trying to hunt down as many as possible. Once I was settled in the run, and onto the second lap, I found it surreal seeing competitors from all over the world. Sounds stupid, I was at the World Championships, but for someone who had only raced local and a couple of national races it was new. Entering the last kilometre of five, I found myself feeling stronger. Don’t get me wrong, I was tired; very tired. It was the feeling of; don’t give up now, one last push. I entered the blue matted finishing area with only a 180 degree turn and 80m straight to go. The last push took me through a few more positions. I was finished. Done.

There was no better feeling than completing the race and finding out my position and then through the crowd to my parents. I had finished in 33rd place. Well inside the top half. I was elated. This was my greatest achievement and something I will and do take pride in. From the moment I made this race my goal, from inception to reality, I wasn’t sure if it was even achievable. Through some high points and a few lows I had made it. I can honestly say, for the first time I reached and surpassed a goal I had set out to achieve.

World Triathlon Championships 2013 - Post Race with the Folks

A big thank you must go to my parents for all the support, they have been a fantastic help. To Hannah’s parents for all of their support throughout the year and finally big congratulations to Hannah who also competed. She helped an awful lot throughout the year and especially so on race day. I couldn't possibly thank everyone, there are too many, but you all know who you are. So thank you all very much!!

World Triathlon Championships 2013 - Hannah's Family

I told you I was nearly there! Joking aside, if you're still reading this, Thank you. It is very much appreciated. I tried to keep it brief. It was tough.

I will be posting more "interesting" updates here soon. I hope you'll find the time to pop back. Keep your eyes peeled.

Thank you.

Sam.