BUCS Duathlon

BUCS Duathlon, 24th November
2 mile run, 10 mile bike, 2 mile run

Finish time. 48:29
Result. 77th out of 481
Run 1- 11:23
Bike - 23:52
Run 2 - 11:20

So after a very tough week with a lot going on  Yesterday was BUCS Duathlon at Castle Combe racing circuit (a car racing circuit). The race was BUCS which means it is the university championships and meant that there would be extremely fast and good guys there. We left Plymouth for the not so far drive up and left in a beautiful but very cold minus figures morning. A slight inital concern on how cold it was!

Before the race i had plenty of time for a good warm up, to set my bike up in the hectic and busy transition and also have a think about how i would attack the race. At 1:35 we were called to line up on the most busy start line i have ever stood on, hundreds of us all packed in and wanting to be at the front.

As soon as the race was underway there was a lot of pushing and shoving to find a good position. My first 1km wasn't great i was going fast but i kept having to run off to the side or push people out of the way. There were just so many people on a small part of route to run. However fortunately after a while it died down and i was able to settle into a fast pace. This was my first race using a running watch and i was able to watch my speed and know where i wanted to be. I had a couple of accelerations to get out of the way and through gaps in-between people. But overall the first run was fast and strong and i was into transition.

Transition was chaos there were so many people and so much kit but i knew exactly where to go and grabbed my bike. On approaching the mount line there was again some more madness. A lot of guys were just standing with their bikes or being real slow about it and a few had fallen over or dropped bikes. After a bit more pushing and slight aggression i was onto my bike safely (just) and beginning to get my head into the ride. The cycle was brilliant. I felt really good and strong and the route was on a closed road racing circuit. This meant it was fast, smooth and pretty flat. My average speed was higher than any other triathlon and i felt really good in the big gears down on the tri bars.The track was good to ride on but a couple of tight bends had to be taken with care. Also as there was so many people on the track i had to stay focused, i had a couple of near misses and saw a couple of guys hit the ground. We had 5 laps to ride and so i knew when i could push harder and what cadence to hit. After 4 laps i threw my water bottle away as i realised going that fast and on such a short ride i wouldn't need it. (I did almost fall off in the process). With one lap to go i pushed as hard as i felt i could with a run coming up and went into transition feeling good but with bloody freezing hands.

T2 was a little slower than i would have liked, my hands were frozen so getting on my shoes was a bit of an issue but soon enough i was onto the second lap of the run. I knew i just wanted to go as fast as i could. That was my only plan. Run fast and run hard. I had a really shit week previous to the race including being assaulted so i tried to use all the bad thoughts and use them to push me on. It seemed to work as by the last 1km i felt like i was going really hard. I came around the corner to the finishing straight and went for it. I ran as hard as i could and in the final 100m i overtook about 6 people. I never really understand why people don;t run hard to the line! But when i crossed the line i felt like i truly gave everything.

Im very pleased with my result, it was a massive field to race against and there were some incredible athletes there from fantastic sporting universities so to be top 80 of university students feels very good being my first season. Plymouth as a university also managed to come 15th out of 101!My second run was also a bit quicker than my first which im pretty pleased with! And i felt good and strong during the whole race.

I want to thank my coach Graeme, he is working very hard with me and i believe his training and advice is really taking me to a new level already. I'm excited to keep working with him and really value his time and effort with me.

This is my final race of the season! It's been a fantastic one, one i just wanted to try out the sport and see what happened but turned into being very competitive and training extremely hard. I have big goals for next year and Graeme and i will now work on those over winter. A rest day today and back to the grind on Tuesday.

Thanks for all the support and reading this. It means a lot to know people support you.

More photos to follow when they go up.

The not quite end of Season.

After my last blog post i thought i had put this season to bed and was hitting winter training and relaxing a little. However i was quite wrong! I have entered my definite last event of the season! BUCS duathlon on the 24th of November.

This race should be really interesting and fast. It takes place on Castle Combe race circuit so flat, closed circuit which should be very smooth. The race is a 2 mile run, followed by a 10 mile bike then a further 2 mile run. All around the track. The event is BUCS so i will be up against many other students from across the country which should make it very interesting. There will be guys of elite racing level to just your average student. But i am looking forward to racing against people in the same life positions and just to have one final blast of the year!

I am now a few weeks into my training with coach Graeme Stewart. I can honestly say it is the best decision i made, every day i will check Training Peaks and look what i have to do that day. It's always different, fun but also challenging. Some days i will work all 3 disciplines other days i will just do a long steady bike. I am really enjoying the new challenge and pushing myself harder and harder. I am in the pool more than i ever have been, i used to do around 1-2 sessions a week in the water now I'm swimming about 4/5 sessions a week. Every session is thought out and i am doing new drills, technique work and fine tuning every aspect of my sport.

Using Training Peaks and various watches and computers on the bike and running Graeme can analyse my data and we can compare it to similar sessions to see where improvements are coming. Training peaks is a great tool and i am just getting used to being able to use all the features!

Training this hard isn't easy i wont lie. Im pretty hungry all the time and usually in bed by 10pm. But i can feel my body changing and improvements coming already. I have fresh motivation and knowing that you have someone to tell me what to do and to check if i am doing it is very helpful. Im also really enjoying the routine, knowing when i will train, when im hungry, when i need to sleep, which locker i need to use at swimming otherwise things go wrong (slight OCD). I feel once you use a routine your body gets used to it and begins to respond.

For the next couple of weeks i will keep training hard leading up to this Duathlon. I am very excited to race again but i think after this one the season will definitely be over and the winter miles begin. I have also gained myself a job at Evans cycles and i believe with them it will help me go in the direction i want too and also i may be able to afford some winter kit! But thats another story.

Thanks for reading, i will report back after the race.