2012: Goal Setting

The Christmas - New Year break gave me the opportunity to sit down and think about the upcoming duathlon and triathlon seasons, plan and enter some races, and decide what I wanted to get out of the 2012 season.

Inspired by my friend Nellie's aim to run 45 races in her 45th year of life, I've decided to race more this year.
After only doing 4 triathlons last year, I want to do a lot more this year, and a lot more low key ones so I can enjoy them and try out new tactics as well as getting more experience of just getting out there and racing.
I also want to do more running races - previously I've shied away from road races unless I feel I'm in PB shape. It's a whole different scene to cross country where performance is judged on position - on the road, it's your time that counts and unless you win a prize, that's it! I've decided this year that I'm going to accept that I'm not going to run a PB every race I do, but that doesn't mean it won't be a worthwhile run.

I run because I love it, and I want to hold on to that enjoyment by doing more races without the pressure of trying to go for a PB each time. Now I'm living in Manchester there are a lot of local road races I've never done before and I'm competing against a whole different set of athletes, relieving the pressure of racing the same people I've raced for the last 10 years!

I'm still planning out my road races, but I've already entered the Christleton 5km in May - a super fast, super scenic 5km near Chester. Having said I'm going to do more races for enjoyment, I'm going to be doing this one to get a PB - given how fast the course is, it would be daft not to go for a quick time here!
Altrincham AC have a road race competition across the year, with the best 6 results to count - these span a huge race of distances, from the Sale Sizzler 5kms to the Manchester Marathon. It'll be great to carry on the cross country team spirit and join the rest of the club in these (but not the Manchester Marathon!)

I've also entered a couple of low key triathlons in April with pool based swims to get me into the swing of things well in advance of the British Sprint Champs at the end of May...which brings me smoothly on to my goals for this year:

Qualify for the World Duathlon Championships (25-29 AgeGroup)
Qualify for the World Triathlon Championships (25-29 AgeGroup)
Sub 39min 10km
Sub 19min 5km

So my 2012 race plan consists of qualification races for the World Duathlon & Triathlon Championships, road races and the end of the XC season
My last XC race is the National Champs at Parliament Hill on 25th Feb, and my first Duathlon is the British Age-Group Champs at the Dambuster Duathlon on 10th March - I'm hoping my running fitness will carry me through this as I'm not keen to get out on my bike in the rain, wind and ice we've had the last few weeks!

I'm also doing the excellently organised Oulton Park Duathlon on 25th March (both are qualifiers for the World Duathlon Champs), before my first Triathlon at Halesowen on 1st April.
April & May are a combination of road races and triathlons, building up to the Grendon Triathlon on 13th May and the British Sprint Champs at the Big Cow Sprint Triathlon on 27th May

Just thinking about this, they seem both far too soon and far too far ahead - between now and the end of May there are so many gains I can make in my training by upping my swim mileage, bringing in more Brick sessions, improving my transition skills - it's exciting to think about how well I could perform at the end of May if everything goes to plan! It's also a bit nervewracking to think how far away these races are, and how many unknowns there are between now and then. Potential illness or injury could set me back in my training plan, and who knows what changes in my work/life situation could impact my training. I recently read an article about how stresses outside of training affect training and racing, which made me realise having a bad race could be down to stress and poor mental focus as a result, as much it being caused by lack of training and proper preparation.

However it's quite futile to worry about everything that could go wrong in the next 5 months, instead I've got to focus on what I can control - my training!

To assist me in attaining my goals this year I've enlisted the help of Phil Nichol at Altrincham AC, who's done an excellent job of putting together a training plan where the focus is quality instead of quantity. Having said that, it's by no means light on quantity, but it does ensure recovery between sessions so I can get the most out of my training instead of putting in "junk miles" - as I've mentioned previously, my pre-Christmas training has been very volume heavy, which has given me a good aerobic base, but I now feel like I need to be more aggressive in my training to make rapid gains in speed. The new training plan is also a lot more event specific, with tempo sessions, brick sessions and more fast miles - no more piddling 3 mile jogs!

Going into 2012 I'm feeling hugely motivated and excited about achieving what I feel are achievable goals!
That's all for 2012, hope everyone's set themselves exciting and challenging goals - any comments welcome.

Manchester XC League: Wythenshawe

Manchester XC League race #3: Wythenshawe Park, Saturday 3rd December

Finally a flat cross country race, and it suited me well!
Result: 21st
Excellent video of the race here, where I can be spotted at 4.26 and 8.04:

I started off enthusiastically as I was delighted to finally be running a flat firm course where my track speed would benefit me, and I just kept moving through the field after the first 1/2 a lap. I picked off 3 girls in the last 600m as I just wound up the pace throughout the last lap.

Unfortunately there was a stream crossing - which of course I fell in on both laps, finishing the race with numerous cuts and blood all down my leg!

Definitely my best run of the season to date

Leeds Abbey Dash 10km

A week after St. Helens I raced the Leeds Abbey Dash 10km.
My first 10km since 2007 when I ran 39.25 in the Telford 10km

This was a huge event on a very cold and foggy morning in Leeds - great to see so many thousands of runners out on the streets!
I clocked 40.22, results here. I set off just behind the 40minute marker, listening to athletes around me discussing their times to work out if I was in the right place - I didn't want to carried away with the 35 minute runners, but I also didn't want to have to battle my way through hundreds of slower runners and get held up! Ah the trials of big races, and this was the biggest race I've ever done!

I got my pacing spot on and clocked 20.10 for 5km and though I tried to pick up the pace over the last 2km, the uphill finish put paid to my plans for negative splits!
Really happy with my time and now I can't wait to get under 40 minutes again.
Last time I raced 10km I broke my foot a few days later just running on it, so I was careful to take a few days easier post-race this time!
It was an absolutely fantastic event and I met up with my friend Philippa, who clocked an awesome 36.13, for hot chocolate at Leeds Christmas market - a great day out!

Manchester XC League: St.Helens

Sunday 13th November saw the 2nd race in the Manchester XC League, at what I would describe as a VERY TOUGH course in St.Helens

Result: 25th

A nice improvement of 4 places from last time, and I was the first scorer for Altrincham.
I struggled throughout due to the nature of the course, and was beaten by a couple of girls I'd beaten at Heaton Park. It was another gloriously sunny day, but the course was undulating with hardly any flat ground. Everything I made up on the flat or the downhills I lost on the uphills, having quite a battle with a girl from Sale Harriers Manchester.

One positive though is that I maintained my position throughout - I lost 1 place at the end of the first lap, but made it up on the 2nd. It was a far more committed race than Heaton Park and although the course didn't suit me, I stuck to task and ran hard throughout!

Lots of excellent photos available on http://www.hsphotos.co.uk/ all of which I look quite grumpy on!

Manchester XC League: Heaton Park

First XC Race of the Season!

Every year I forget how ridiculously hard the first race is, but it's always a good kick up the bum to get down to proper winter training and build the volume! Saturday 22nd October was a fairly late start to my XC season, but it was the earliest I felt ready to race after my end of season break. It was conveniently the first race in the Manchester XC League and my first outing in an Altrincham vest!

Result: 29th

It was a gorgeous day in Heaton Park and I was looking forward to starting my season and having a nice run out!

I started off the race in the top 20, and then almost lost a shoe right at the bottom of the first hill, stopped to tie my laces and lost a lot of places - I then gradually worked my way back through. Luckily it was a long race, but I never felt like I quite got back to where I should have been. After the 1st lap my spikes started to rub really badly and I was running for the last half of the race with my feet shoved forwards in my spikes to limit the damage.
If I'd been sensible I would have stopped running.
But I'm not sensible - so I finished with my spikes full of blood.
I had washed them at the end of the season, but the mud from Alton Towers at the 2011 National XC Champs must have dried in permanently!
It's a lovely course with rolling park land and woods, but has a killer hill coming up to the finish - I definitely need to do some more hill training.
Overall I was pleased to get the first race done, pleased with how I worked through the field, but disappointed with some pretty basic errors I made in not tying my shoes properly and then wearing spikes that destroyed my feet. I couldn't run for days after and was wearing flip flops to work for a week!

Above: Me (29th), Lora (26th) and Laura (71st) looking very happy in the sunshine pre-race!

Winter Training Phase 1

A 2 week break was necessary after NewBiggin - for the first few days I could hardly walk as my back seized up and all my muscles complained about how hard they'd been made to work.
After that I had a week's holiday in the sun and came back rested and raring to go!

October, November and December would be focused solely on improving my aerobic fitness through my favourite sport - running! I'd planned a full XC season, racing for Altrincham&District AC in the Manchester Cross Country League, as well as County Champs, Midland Champs and National Champs for my home club Telford AC

XC races up North seem to be a lot longer than in the Midlands! Last year I'd competed mainly in the North Wales and North Staffs Leagues where races tend to be around 4-5km, but up in Manchester they're all 7-8km! I was going to have to work on my stamina.

Phase 1 of Winter Training:

Monday: 8 mile steady
Tuesday: Altrincham Session - horrifically long!
Wednesday: 6 mile steady
Thursday: 3-4 miles easy am, Altrincham session pm
Friday: 3-4 miles easy am or Rest
Saturday: Race or 8 mile steady
Sunday: 10 mile long run

Total mileage over the Winter started off around 35-40 and built up to 50 in some weeks as I increased my Friday run.

Towards the end of November I missed cycling and swimming a lot so I added these into my training...

Phase 1b of Winter Training:

Monday am: swim 800-1km FC
Monday pm: 8mile run in ~55 mins
Tuesday pm: Altrincham session
Wednesday am: 4 mile easy run
Wednesday pm: Spinning class at gym 45mins
Thursday am: 4 mile easy run
Thursday pm: Altrincham session
Friday am: 4 mile easy run
Friday pm: 5-6 mile run or rest if racing or tired
Saturday: Race or 8 mile run
Sunday: 10 mile steady run (approx 8min miling)

Weekly mileage 40 - 50.

I followed this till now, when I feel I have a good base level of fitness and have had some good race results including a 10km in 40.22. (see separate posts for race reports)

Going into 2012 I wanted to be more event specific, and work towards a variety of goals, so I asked Phil Nichol, one of the coaches at Altrincham AC to help with Phase 2!

Triathlon #4: Newbiggin Sprint Triathlon

One word to sum up the Newbiggin Sprint Triathlon: HELL

The weekend that Hurricane Katia blew over to the UK, this was not a good weekend for swimming in the sea.

All the speed I'd gained in the last couple of months, all the work I'd put into honing my Open Water Swim technique, all the miles on the bike, all the transitions I'd practised...instead of getting me round the course in a super speedy time, it all turned into a survival contest!

The swimming conditions were choppy, to say the least, with the breakwater providing little shelter. With the men going off in the first 2 waves I had the pleasure of watching some men give up and be lifeboated ashore. Reminding myself I'd survived surfing in the Atlantic with bigger waves than this, I decided now was the time to MAN UP and give it everything I had! I can't find a photo which does justice to just how bad the conditions were, the waves look positively small here:

My warm up swim achieved exactly the opposite of the desired effects as the North Sea was FREEZING. Local triathletes were saying the strength of the current would drag us inland when we were on the way out, but once we'd reached the turn around buoy we'd be pushed in by the wind. Beforehand I thought, stick to the right and aim to swim more to the right than the direct route, to make up for the current.
Great pre-race plan, however, the current and the wind were so strong that everyone was getting pulled off course and people were swimming on top of each other in different directions. The waves were so big it was impossible to spot accurately so I kept losing sight of the buoy and heading off course with most of the field! I was also struggling to breathe in the choppy conditions and couldn't get my arms up over the waves enough for an effective front crawl. Given the horrific conditions and the lack of progress I was making through the water, I switched between crawl and breaststroke as the whole outward swim became a case of survival. This was by far and away one of the least pleasant sporting experiences of my life! Conditions improved dramatically when I finally reached the turnaround buoy, and I was blown inland a bit. Getting out of the sea I stumbled up the beach as a huge wave of relief washed over me!

Pulling off my wetsuit in transition I almost fainted and stumbled backwards with dizziness. I'm not sure if it was the effort involved in the swim or the change from choppy conditions to dryland, but it wasn't the best start to the bike ride. I'm surprised I was only in transition for 1.46 - it felt much longer.

Heading out on the bike for the 3 lap course it was starting to rain and quite windy, but nothing compared to the swim! The first section was through town before going out onto country roads and a long slightly uphill drag before heading back down towards the down. The long uphill drag felt a lot tougher than on the warm up lap and I tried to get some fluids down to ease my stomach cramps from swallowing far too much salty sea water. My bike leg wasn't as powerful and fast as Desford, but given the conditions and the effort I'd put into surviving the swim, I can't complain. I overtook a few people and tried not to let any women come past me - one did and she pulled away quite rapidly but I managed to overtook a few myself.

Coming into the run my hands were numb trying to change my shoes in transition - I'll definitely be getting elastic laces next season! The run was a 2 lap course along the seafront, in the wind. I started off steadily and picked a few people off on the first out section, at the turnaround I picked it up and reminded myself that a good run could be the difference between making the GB Team, and nothing, so I put everything I had into it. On the 2nd lap I put my foot down and kept moving through, going past as many people as I could, always focusing on the next person once I'd overtaken one. My legs were feeling pretty heavy and it felt more of a slog than I'd hoped. At Desford I felt in control and as if I was flying round - today every step was a battle, especially into the wind.

Swim: 22.07
T1: 1.46
Bike: 50.34
T2: 0.57
Run: 23.33 (99th overall)

When I crossed the line, I really didn't care if I'd qualified or not - I knew I'd done absolutely everything I could on the day and given it my all. I was exhausted & too tired to even warm down.

There's a great race report on Tri247.com

And an excellent video:

When the results came up online later that evening I found I'd come 6th, within 120% of the winner's time - hopefully enough to qualify for the GB Age-Group Team for the 2012 European Sprint Triathlon Championships, as one of the girls ahead of me had already qualified from another race. A few days later I had confirmation of my place!! Absolutely overjoyed to have achieved my aim, and achieved this in my first season as a triathlete!

Following the race I couldn't sit or lie down without my back hurting - I think I strained some muscles swimming! I decided to take 2 weeks rest/easy running as when I felt like it so I could recover properly, go on holiday, and feel mentally refreshed before winter training.

An excellent first triathlon season, though I may think twice before swimming in the North Sea again.

Triathlon #3: Desford Triathlon

A lovely event by Race Time Events I'd recommend the 2012 running to new and experienced triathletes.

After Speedy Beaver, it was great to do a less serious event - though the lack of serious-ness hampered me a bit in the swim as some of my fellow lane mates had completely overestimated their swimming ability and I had to overtake them multiple times!

Over the last few months I'd been putting a lot more time into swimming, going three times a week and building volume, and today I finally saw the benefit, clocking 7.20 for 400m. A huge improvement from the 8mins + it took me at the Wilmslow Tri at the beginning of May.

The race was so chilled out, people were stopping to chat and have a drink in transition - I really enjoyed the atmosphere, love to see a huge range of people having a go! The bike route was windy, hilly, and challenging for me - but quicker than my previous tri rides as I clocked 36:27 for 12 miles. The 2 lap grass run route round playing fields provided great visibility of competitors in front of me and I quickly chased a lot of people down, clocking 19.15 for 5km

Overall I was 7th female, and 4th in my category:

Swim: 7.20 (7th cat, 17th female)
T1: 1.28 (10th cat, 34th female) - NEEDS IMPROVEMENT!
Bike: 36.27 (7th cat, 20th female)
T2: 0.53 (12th cat, 41st female) - NEEDS IMPROVEMENT!
Run: 19.15 (2nd cat, 3rd female)

By far and away my best triathlon to date, and I was very happy with my performances in each disciple, though my transitions need a lot of work as I'm giving away time unnecessarily here.
I felt a lot more confident about trying to qualifying for the GB Age Group Team in September after Desford!

Back on Track

During June & July I focused on my first love - TRACK! It had been 4 years since I last raced on the track, and I couldn't wait to compete again. Over a few weeks I put in a few 1500s and 800s, competing at the Trafford AC Open Meetings on Tuesday night as well as a couple of Midland Women's League raced for my club, Telford AC All my track results are listed on the statsgeekery heaven which is Power Of Ten I had a nice victory at the County Champs, which was possibly my best race of the year:

I also had a terrible run at the Midland Champs - I seem to be cursed at Alexander Stadium, Birmingham. Every time I've raced there I've performed poorly - the track feels too hard underfoot and when I was u17 I used to claim it was longer than 400m! It was nice to be competing at the Midland Champs again, but it really highlighted the huge gap between myself and the speedy international runners at the front of the race. I did manage a 4th place though, despite lacking any focus throughout the race.

It was a funny track season - by the time I got used to the short sharp track sessions and started improving my speed, I ended up not racing again! I'd planned to do a few races in August and crack the elusive 5 minute barrier for 1500m, but my attention turned to Triathlons again. Next year I'll be structuring my training a lot better and making sure I'm training for the races I'm actually doing. There's nothing I love more than speeding round a track - it's my favourite training and my tactics over 800m are good, I just need the training behind me to execute them better. Having been outkicked in a couple of races this year, I can tell I'll have to focus on speed work a lot sooner next year to race well. The British Sprint Triathlon Champs are at the end of May, so if all goes to plan I'll focus my training on Duathlons & Triathlons till then before switching to track races - not sure how effective this is going to be though - coaching advice welcome!

Post-tri 2

I can sum up the rest of my season quite quickly...shattered!

Post Speedy Beaver I was shattered and it took me a few days to recover. After falling off my bike I decided to focus on something I really enjoy and always have...track races! It's been 4 years since I competed on the track and I enjoy training for 800m and 1500m more than anything else! Between May and August I made a few appearances in league races for my club, Telford AC, as well as a few Trafford open meetings. Unfortunately the training for track and triathlon is quite different - this is definitely going to be a challenge next year! Come the beginning of August I'd been swimming and cycling regularly and really enjoying it, as well as all my track training. I decided that if I let training hard there was a chance I could qualify for the European Sprint Triathlon Championships. It wad a pretty small chance, but I am pretty determined so decided to at least try. As a personal goal, representing GB would be a huge achievement and a good way to focus my training! The next qualification event was Newbiggen up in Newcastle in September. I entered, and entered Desford as a warm up event in August and focused my training towards triathlons, not track races!

Triathlon #2: Speedy Beaver

Let me sum this up...

1. Lake of silt
2. Long run up grass slope to transition
3. Hilly bike course
4. Wind (my mortal enemy)
5. Hilly run course
6. Oozing blood from various cuts
7. Stiff from bike fall

Add all those factors together and you have...one of the best experiences of my life!
LOVED IT!

It was tough, my swim was kick was pathetic due to post-fall stiffness, my cycling was quite scaredy-cattish, my run was good, overtaking lots of people but limited by post-fall stiffness - but afterwards I felt SO proud and pleased to have finished.

15th in my age group (25-29) not too bad for a first GB Champs!

Pre-Beaver

Post-Wilmslow

Following on from Wilmslow I was really pleased with how the race had gone and decided to enter another Tri asap! After the Oulton Park Duathlon I realised I could have been close to qualifying for a GB Age-Group Team and decided to look into the possibilities for triathlon.

For the European and World Duathlon and Triathlon Champs each year there are an assortment of qualification races and I ended up doing one by accident as Oulton Park was a qualifier for the European Duathlon Champs. 

I'm a far better runner than swimmer or cyclist, but I wasn't sure just how much those events dragged me down - I decided entering the GB Sprint Triathlon Championships at the Speedy Beaver event at the end of May.

With a swim in a lake and taking place in the grounds of Belvoir Castle, this was going to be a pretty big deal...

Preparation:

Swimming in a lake meant some practise/experience of swimming in open water before the event would be a good idea - so I sorted out wetsuit hire and jumped in one Saturday morning at Salford Quays.

Honestly have to say this was not the most fun I've ever had. Cold. Dark. No sign of the bottom. Cold. Dirty. Cold, did I mention cold? I'm not a fan of cold water anyway and will avoid puddles when running! I hadn't anticipated how much my body would tense up on hitting cold water and how off-putting not being able to see the bottom was, but I ploughed out a few laps anyway, realising I'd do better in a better fitting wetsuit and with appropriate Goggles - I had my normal pool racing goggles on and periferal vision is pretty poor in them. Fine when you're going in a straight line guided by lane ropes, not so good for navigating murky water, swan poo and an overly confident swan who set himself on a collision course with me!

Cycling wise I was confident I could improve my cycling hugely just by putting in a bit more practise.

However a couple of things happened that interfered with my plans:

1. My bike was stolen.

2. I was blown off my bike by a gust of wind 6 days before the race.

Luckily the nice people at Dave Mellor Cycles where I bought my first bike, helped me out by setting up a new bike for me to collect the weekend before the race. They did an excellent job of sourcing the exact same bike and having it ready for me!

Unluckily I got blown off my bike by a strong gust of wind the same weekend and landed heavily grazing both hands deeply, jarring my back badly and cutting my knees and thighs - that's what I get for cycling in short shorts and without gloves, lesson learnt!

In the week before the GB Sprint Champs I was hobbling around, unable to run, oozing goo from open wounds...not the best preparation and didn't do a lot for my bike confidence!

Triathlon #1 : Wilmslow

Firstly, what an excellent event! Another one organised by Xtra Mile Events with excellent tshirts and goodie bags.

Beforehand I was ridiculously nervous - as I wasn't sure how hard it was going to be, and I was a bit worried about transition...having not practised this part at all!

I spent ages sorting out all my kit, trying to make sure everything was in the right place and discovered things I hadn't anticipated - i.e. I couldn't wear my trainers to walk to the swimming pool if I needed them in transition for when I exited the pool!

The 400m swim took me just over 8mins and went fine - I got overtaken once and then overtook the man back - everyone was very friendly and it was competitive, but not horribly so - probably a benefit of not being in the fastest swim wave! Arms a bit tired I pulled myself out the pool, jogged across to the transition area, enjoying the good weather! Quite comically I sat down to lace up my shoes and drink some powerade while everyone else zipped in and out of transition. I cautiously wobbled off on my bike and as soon as I reached the main roads I was so happy I'd practised the course before hand. Men on very snazzy bikes were zipping past me, but I managed to catch a woman from my swim wave up! Coming back into transition I dismounted well ahead of the line, just in case, and quickly dropped my bike off. One benefit of not having cycling shoes is I already had my trainers on ready to roll.
The run was my favourite part - all the way round I was catching people up and flying past men who'd given me the same treatment on the bike!

I've never felt such a sense of relief and achievement when I reached the finish line - and I loved every minute of it! I'd also never felt so tired from a race in my life!
I was 12th female, and 5th in my age group - very happy with that and the standard of competition was really high, with Jacqui Slack (Elite Triathlete) taking first place

Love, love, loved it!

Preparing for my first Triathlon

Oulton park increased my confidence hugely as I now felt I could be competitive in the running and cycling elements.
However my swimming to date had consisted of paddling up and down the small pool in my local gym. Luckily I seam competitively from age 5 to 14 so I've got a good swimming background, even if it was a few years since I'd powered up and down a pool. Also luckily, my office is pretty close to the aquatic centre in Manchester and its 2 lovely 50m pools! Great for working on my stamina and practising a front crawl technique I'd not used for 12 years. Instantly I rediscovered my love of swimming and now my biggest challenge is finding the hours in the day and the energy to do all the training I want to do.

In the lead up to Wilmslow I went out to the bike course a couple of times and practised the route-its not far off my normal cycling route and has since become part of a nice hour ride I do on Monday nights. The course has a couple of steep downhill sections and my cycling is rather cautious.

 Kit wise I realised rocking up on my running kit wouldn't be the best idea as I'd be swimming in it as well! I didn't want to shell out on loads of kit given it was my first ever tri, so i checked out the bargains on wiggle and got a nice orca suit wih a strangely padded bum that I've still not got used to! I also picked up some decent goggles to prevent me stopping every length to empty the water out!

 Training wise I added in a couple of bricks and worked on putting in a few more miles on the bike - more to come on training in another post! I was determined to do well as well as just completing my first triathlon! I gave up alcohol for most of April and May, mostly because I was finding training for the 3 sports really tiring and wanted to give my body he best chance possible...and also because I find it very hard to cycle on a hangover!

Oulton Park Duathlon

Oulton Park Sprint Duathlon - my first multi-sport race!

I rocked up at this looking like the runner I am, in running shorts & a tshirt, with "normal" peddles on my bike and what I can now tell was a pretty poor cycling technique...however I LOVED it!

The Sprint & main events started together so I had lots of runners around me, and this helped push me on as I had men doing 2 laps to run with while I was doing 1.

The bike was 5 laps and I found the circuit pretty challenging as it was a bit bendy and a bit hilly - definitely good experience but I did struggle & went backwards a bit here!

Lucky for me there's another run at the end - which I blasted round in an even faster time! I clocked 17.11 for the 2nd run & 18.02 for the 1st! I finished 5th woman and 2nd in my age group - a great result for my first duathlon.

I enjoyed the whole event, the atmosphere was great and Xtra Mile Events did a fantastic job of making the event enjoyable and exciting. Plus the goody bag was awesome & got me hooked on Clif Bars!

I was surprisingly tired after - my first experience of how much duathlons/triathlons take it out of you. Also my first experience of having men to chase down in the same race - they get away on the bike, I claw them back on the run - very satisfying!

1st race = massive success!

Thoughts on my First Season

I started my season with a duathlon, thinking this would be a good introduction to multi-sport racing and prepare me for my first triathlon.

I finished my season with a sea triathlon and qualifying for the GB Age Group Team for the European Sprint Triathlon Champs

My first season went so much better than I could possibly have expected & I found a new sport that I love - a huge win all round!

2011 races were:

• Oulton Park Duathlon
• Wilmslow Triathlon (pool)
• Speedy Beaver Sprint Triathlon (lake) - GB Age Group Champs
• Desford Triathlon
• NewBiggin Bay Sprint Triathlon (sea)

Looking back that doesn't seem a lot of races, but I found each race took a lot out of me and the training took a lot of time!

Oulton Park Duathlon came at the end of my first week of a new job, living in a new city - so it was quite a hectic time finding my feet and training venues.

Between Wilmslow and Speedy Beaver I got blown off my bike by a particularly strong gust of wind and completed Speedy Beaver with a number of cuts and grazes - definitely not my best possible performance.

Between Speedy Beaver at the end of May and Desford at the start of August, I did a fair few track races & focused on getting some speed into my legs. Track running is my first love & it was great to compete on the track for the first time since 2007. Unfortunately I didn't clock any blinding times, but got close to my pbs for 1500m and 800m and had a great time. During this couple of months my training was really unfocused as I had two aims - run fast on the track & to get super fit for Newbiggin Bay to try and qualify for the GB Team.

Next year I'll be looking to structure my season a lot better so I can focus on track or triathlon at one time!

I'll be putting up race reports for all the above races - I'm hoping formally reviewing these beyond the scribbled sentences in my training diary "tired" "very tiring" "enjoyed it but tired now" will help me work out what areas I really need to work on in 2012!

December Update

Well I've definitely let the blogging slide since setting this up - when I started I was really keen to share my training and racing efforts, and also use this as a bit of a motivational tool. If you're publicising your training, it's an added incentive to complete it as planned!

I've let this slide over the last few months because work has been busy - yep I know, I'm lucky and my job is usually 9-5.30, but I work in online marketing and spend all day sat in front a computer. By the time it gets to 5.30 I don't even want to look at a computer screen and my laptop stays switched off most evenings and weekends!

However I'm going to get this going again because I spend a fair amount of tram, train and bus journey reading other athletes and triathletes blogs and it really motivates me to get out and train! I also get some great ideas for sessions and training plans from blogs - hopefully if I can keep this regularly updated I might be able to share my enthusiasm for sport and maybe encourage a few others to get out and train!

My New Year's Resolution will be to keep this updated, so I'm getting a head start on 1st December!

I reckon posts on the move will be the way to go - apologies in advance for any typing errors. I've got a fair bit of catching up to do, so watch out for race reports and training updates covering the last few months!

All comments are welcomed and any feedback on my training/racing plans are appreciated - I'm mostly self-coached and occasionally get stuck in a routine, not realising other methods may be more effective!

Thanks & hope you enjoy reading!

Fast Forward

Fast Forward a few months, and I've had an amazingly successful XC season, where I achieved my aim of having a whole XC season without any injuries.

Even managed to qualify to run in the UK InterCounties Champs and World Trials at the end of the season.

Results from all my races are on the wonderful Power of 10 site, absolute heaven for athletics geekery, and reveals my progress over the last few months plus a couple of good results from years gone by:

http://www.thepowerof10.info/athletes/profile.aspx?athleteid=31834

Highlight is probably a 39.25 10km and the possibility of what was to come in 2008 after I finally knuckled down to training properly at uni, giving me a taster of what I could actually achieve with a bit of consistency and dedication to doing things properly!

Onwards from the XC season I had 2 aims:

- Midlands & National Road Relay Champs

- Oulton Park Duathlon

At the Midlands we didn't put out our strongest team, but I completed my first road race in 3.5 years without any problems - over the moon!

And then at the Nationals everybody in the team put in amazing performances as we came 7th!

Possibly our best ever performance at the 6 stage!

Telford Athletic Club: Womens National Six Stage Road Relay

As well as putting in some consistent training and longer runs, I'd been attempting to add in more cycling to my training regime with a weekly spin class and a bike ride on a Sunday (usually after racing on a Saturday and running 10-13 miles on Sunday morning) - at this point I wasn't exactly loving the bike! As a bit of a novice I think I was using the wrong gears and picking the wrong routes - being too scared to try the main routes I was winding my way in and out of potholes down some very windy country lanes.

Luckily for my slightly girlish attempts at cycling a change of scene was just around the corner, forcing me to explore some new routes and accidentally discover some main roads!

A Laidback Approach

Following my "How hard can it be?" philosophy I considered the challenge of doing a Triathlon and decided the bike would be the hardest part due to my fear of falling off.

Not a ridiculous fear as I've not done a lot of bike riding since falling off going down a very steep hill and cracking my head open some 7 years ago and since my injury have only been able to actual pedal a bike for a few months.

After considering entering a bike race or similar, I decided the easiest way to overcome my bike riding worries was to enter a Duathlon before the Triathlon, so when I got to T-day I'd already have experienced cycling with a large number of other people. At this point I was also really concerned about cycling on roads with traffic, due to my tendency to wobble a lot, so I entered the Oulton Park Duathlon in April - an entirely off-road (but on tarmac!) affair at Oulton Park Race Circuit.

This gave me 2 target events to aim for, positioned nicely after the end of the XC season so as not to conflict with XC racing at all.

So how to train for this?

At the beginning of January I planned to continue with my current training pretty much as normal but adding in a couple of bike rides - one at the weekend and one spin class each week. Of course, I'm not the only person who decides to go to a spin class in January, so I struggled with getting spaces in classes and got very frustrated by this - but when I did go I found the classes excellent and they quickly improved my leg speed and technique.

I was already swimming twice a week at the gym, doing about 300-400m breaststroke each time, and given the swim in the Wilmslow Triathlon was only 400m I decided this would do fine for the time being and I'd attempt some front crawl closer to race date!

I was looking forward to trying something different and attempting a challenge I was aiming to finish instead of reach a certain performance level in. Plus the extra training would definitely help my running performances as I was very wary of increasing my training volume there given injury history.

Adding in a couple of bike rides a week...How hard could this be?

Why Not Give it a Tri

I've just got into / am getting into Triathlon and after reading many elite athlete blogs I thought I'd follow their example - at least in one respect, by cataloguing my slightly comical and naiive attempts at becoming a Triathlete!

My New Year's resolution for 2011 was to enter a Triathlon, so on 2nd January 2011 before I could really think about what I was undertaking I entered the Wilmslow Triathlon in May.

I've always wanted to do a triathlon - but I've been slightly scared of not knowing where to begin. At the start of 2011 I was incredibly pleased to be able to do any sport after years of injury and I thought, I can ride a bike, I can swim, and I can definitely run - how hard can it be.

This probably sums up my attitude to everything related to Triathlon to date "How hard can it be?" Not sure whether this makes me sound ignorant or incredibly arrogant, but in the last couple of months I've already had a couple of moments of realisation that training for a triathlon is hard in ways I hadn't anticipated!

Ever since watching Alistair Brownlee at the Beijing Olympics where he ran amazing race without fear and then went on to have an outstanding 2009 season to become World Champion, I've thought Triathlon looked like an amazing sport and was inspired to one day have a go. Unfortunately injuries have conspired against me up to this point, and it's only in the last few months that I've been able to put together any sort of training to enable me to consider giving triathlon a reasonable attempt.

My love of sport started at a young age when I used to swim pretty much every day. In fact I can't actually remember not being able to swim and always wanted to swim in the Olympics but I never really had the opportunity to see this ever becoming a reality and at age 14 I lost interest, fed up of smelling of chlorine and not having time to hang out with friends. That didn't mean my love of sport had disappeared though, and 1 1/2 years later I followed my other love, running, and joined the local athletics club having already represented my county in a couple of races and competed at the English Schools. There can't be many people who take up Athletics at 16, but I was one of them and loved it!

Speeding up to recent times, I was seriously injured at the end of 2007 and didn't run again until 2010, having been told in 2009 that I wouldn't be able to run again and should just be thankful I could walk. Not that I'd ever let something like that stop me - I'm far too stubborn for that and have been back running since April 2010, building up from 10min jogs to a full Cross Country Season in 2010 / 2011 which brings me to my New Years Resolution...Complete a Triathlon!