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.
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 33rd place at North Eastern Championships including a Team Silver; 149th at the Northern Cross Country Championships and, 268th at the National Cross Country Championships. I was happy.
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| 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 33rd place at North Eastern Championships including a Team Silver; 149th at the Northern Cross Country Championships and, 268th at the National Cross Country Championships. I was happy.
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| 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 9th.
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| 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.
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| 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; 29th to be
exact.
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| British Elite Duathlon Championships 2014 - The TriPack (Pre-Race) |
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| 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.
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| 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
1st year to 2nd 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?
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| 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 38th position, with the 12th
fastest run split. Delighted with the result, forwards to the next race.
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| 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
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