I haven’t blogged in a while, that’s because I didn’t feel it necessary to bore you with the endless ‘training blogs’. Over the winter, As I mentioned before, I didn’t compete in Cyclo-cross but am focused more on training, specifically for the European Triathlon championships in Turkey (14 weeks and 5 days and counting). SCARY, I know!! I have settled into a jam packed, structured week of training which consists of a few time trials, triathlons, interval sessions and so on which will carry me all the way up to Race day!!
This is a good time to acknowledge my 'team' mates that I train with as well as the 'Pros' that give up their time to help me. Rich, Chris, Ian, Adam and everyone from the track - thanks guys, you make the things we do, fun!
I have already competed in a couple of time trials this year. A 25mile TT in Ely in the pouring rain and terrible conditions and a shorter 2up with Daz. They’ve been great experiences but as the weeks go by I will be planning on going faster, much faster! Pairing that with my new machine, going faster won’t be such a hard task.
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| Oh, so that's why I put so many hours in at work! |
I can also say my swimming is improving all the time, setting new PB’s in the pool is such a great feeling. On Friday I went to the Triathlon show in Epsom (South London). There were lots of stalls and I was like a little kid in a ‘candy store’. One thing that’s getting to the top of my ‘wish list’ is a new wetsuit. Last year I wore the Aspire from Zone 3 and checking out their stall, the new Vanquish looked great, as did their new ‘Victory D’ which they were ‘unveiling’ at the show. Looked really good.
Virtually next to their stall was HUUB. These suits really caught my eye, not just because of the video of the Brownlee brothers wearing the suits! ... they were very eye catching because of the great design and the amount of technology that had gone into them was unbelievable! I immediately thought, I have to try this out. They let me try on their top of the range suit; the Huub Archimedes 3:5, It was amazingly light and simply felt like a second skin. I then briskly walked (wanted to run) to the Zoggs endless pool, where I tried out the suit. I jumped in and it was COLD, only 14 degrees! I’m used to a relaxing 30 degrees! I noticed straight away, the suit was pulling me to the surface. After a little chat with the swim coach - I got to the job in hand, swimming. I couldn’t believe it, my legs have never been so close to the surface. I didn’t need to think about technique, in the suit it just felt like it came naturally. Here’s a quick clip of me trying out the Huub3.5!
I have some serious decisions to make this year ... I am determined to get the best possible suit that I can (like with my new bike) this way it would be impossible to 'blame' something. It would all be down to me!!
Althorp Duathlon – European Sprint Duathlon Qualifier
Despite not being my best race – my knee’s ‘gone’ again – so I didn't have a good race, but looking at the results It seems I have qualified to represent GB in my age group for the European Duathlon Championships.
Not a good race, but still a good result.
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