Portcolom 111 triathlon 2016

10th April 2016
Swim 1000m- 15:21
Bike 100km - 3:06:58
Run 10.5km - 38:23
16th overall
1st Under 23
So after what has felt like a very long winter it was time for me to fly out to Mallorca from my season opener, triathlon Portocolom. A really special race and one i started 2015 with also. A 1km swim, 100km bike and 10km run. Very different distances to normal races and a great way to test the legs.

Coming to Mallorca i didn't feel that ready to race, training had been going quite well and things were looking good but i was worried i hadn't done enough work on the bike over longer distances. Something that can be hard to find time for.

However after a couple of days of training in my old hometown of Colonia Sant Jordi at the Best centre with my training partner Fin i was on the start line. From last year i knew the bike was won or lost essentially on the bike. The swim still matters of course and as does the run but really after the first lap of the bike most guys end up finishing in that position.

I had a pretty awful swim start, in a typical Spanish fashion the race just started without any warning and i was caught out. For the first minute i was barely swimming just trying to find some water. I just kept calm and got my head down. Once out of the mess i begun to have a really solid swim, i was streaming past people (not usual for me!) and i found some good feet to sit on - Thanks Fin!. I just built the swim from start to finish and came out of the water leading the main chase pack of age groupers.

Onto the bike i knew i just had to start a bit harder than i wanted. I wanted to get into a rhthm quick and push the legs. Despite throwing up some sea water i soon found my legs and begun to settle into the 50km loop. The course is pretty damn hilly, not just the 5km climb but its all fairly rolling and you can't really sit at a power its more like an interval session. Or thats how i raced anyway.

After one lap i knew i was going strong, the numbers were looking good and i felt fresh, i struggled to find comfort in the flat open road section and lost my mind a little but onto the second lap i stepped it up a gear. Once your onto the second lap its a lonely race - it spreads out massively and you feel almost on your own. This is when i had to get my focus on and really step it up. Coming off the bike i was happy to have ridden 6minutes quicker than last year and negative split the second lap. A good sign!

Onto the run and i felt pretty slow. The first 1km just was a real struggle to get going, im usually pretty fast over the first k's but it just didn't happen then. Once i got through 3k the legs began to loosen up and from then to the finish i was just getting faster and faster, a good sign for my longer races. I knew i had given it my all and raced well when crossing the line.

I finished winning my age group and 16th overall. Funnily enough the exact same position as last year, a step up the age group podium and with the exact same run time!

To start my season like this got rid of a lot of the doubt i had had previously and i was super stoked to go quicker than last year.

It was great to be able to race with Finlay and having him in Mallorca kept me pretty relaxed. The next day my bags were packed and it was off to camp with Tri Scotland!

Big thanks as always to Gamma Transport Division and Graeme Stewart Coaching!

2016. Let's get it started.

March. I'm never sure if I like March or not. I think in most triathletes calendars it marks a pretty definite time. Even with the snow and ice on todays ride it's safe to say race season is fast approaching and March is always the first sign of that.


Triathlon can be pretty strange, we spend almost 8 months or so purely training, no races in sight and you can almost forget why you drag yourself out of bed every morning or head out riding in the wet and cold. But it is to race, to be fitter and stronger this year than you ever were and to face the new challenges the next season will create. To achieve those goals you set yourself in September, on a high from the end of the season and with big hopes for the next year.


So that's why im writing this blog today. To give you an insight into what this year will look like for me, and what's been keeping me going through a rather shocking winter here in Scotland. My aims have taken a few twists and turns and I spent a lot of weeks maybe months deciding on what I want to achieve and race.


After last season I was always leaning towards the half ironman (70.3) distance, I had raced a couple of longer events last year and I did pretty well and always felt good over the longer run. But at the same time I love a fast hard Olympic race and really wanted to World championships of which I have qualified for.


So the decision was made to test the waters in 70.3 racing along with targeting the Worlds and Scottish championships.


I'll begin my season on April 10th in Mallorca again with Portocolom triathlon, the 1km swim 100km bike 10km run race which I did last year. A real form finder and an incredible race to begin the year. From there it will be onto Furtaventura to give the Challenge half a go there. After that my schedule looks something like :


Fuertaventura 70.3
Bilbao 70.3
Staffordshire70.3
Exmoore 70.3
Scottish Sprint Champs
Aberfeldy Scottish middle distance champs
Scottish Olympic distance champs
World Championships Olympic distance in Mexico.


They will be my big races this season, the ones I hope to target and do well in. Of course the 70.3 world is still relatively foreign to me but I feel if I approach these races with the same mindset and racing style I have done to Olympics and Sprints I could race well.


I'm not going to chat about how my training is going or what else I have been up too but I feel I am in a good place but still have some solid work to do before im race fit. I will also try and do a half marathon this month and the Scottish Duathlon champs to find some form and brush off the winter cobwebs.


I'm hoping for a big 2016 and appreciate the support and following of my journey into my next season.


A few shots from winter!

Another year gone.

950. That's a pretty big number, one that means something to me. The number of hours of training i have logged on Training Peaks this year. When i think about it is hard to comprehend, where did i find the time, the energy and the motivation for all of that? And thats when i started reflecting on this year.

I'm going to keep this short but 2015 has been an incredible year for me. It started with living in Spain and training full time, an opportunity that was incredible and really helped me understand myself, my sport and my training much better. Off the back of training full time my race season began very early and ended very late.

15 races or so this year and in May i raced every weekend, (one weekend the Saturday and Sunday!) Im very proud of all of my results this year, i won't list them all they can be found on this blog but i really felt i reached my fitness potential and every race went pretty well. The Europeans were an incredible opportunity for me in Switzerland as were the Worlds in Chicago. But i have left them both hungry for more, hungry for a podium and to finish higher up the field.

I also tested my legs at longer distance both in Spain and in Scotland and as i think about 2016 more this seems to be where my goals may take me. It's not decided yet, i am still trying to find what will motivate me but i don't want to rush this.

I think because this year was so long and hard and had some incredible lows and highs it's still taking time to decide where i want to focus and go in 2016. I have a rough idea, but i'm keeping that close to my heart at the moment. All i know is that it's going to take a lot of training, a lot of hard work and trying out some new training styles.

There won't be any living abroad this winter as i have landed an incredible job at Triathlon Scotland as an apprentice performance coach. This for me has been massive, a 3 year position in a sport i love and working alongside the best triathletes in Scotland and the UK is a very inspiring day job. It has also meant my new training ground is Stirling and i'm training with some top athletes. Stirling has produced some incredible athletes over the years so it's not Edinburgh but i'm enjoying the training ground around there!

I said i was keeping it short and ill stick to my promise. 2015 has been a year of learning, of racing, of new cities, experiences and challenges. It's not all been good but i'm happy with the year, im excited to move forward and see what 2016 will bring.

Thank you everyone who has supported me this year, my family, my coach Graeme, my training partners and everyone else who has been following my progress.

The road to 2016 started a few months ago but tomorrow it really begins.

2015 World Championships Chicago - part 2

After the Sprint race i had a day to recover, get the feet up and start focusing on the next race the Olympic distance, for me my preferred distance and a race where i knew the field would be bigger if not stronger. I actually felt surprisingly good after the sprint, i feel i almost needed the hard hit out to get the travel and fatigue out my system!

Olympic race. Time: 2:00:1
9th (1st Brit + European)

If i wasn't nervous for the Sprint i certainly was for the Olympic i'm not sure if it was because i now felt i could be up there because of my result in the sprint or what it was! The swim course was slightly different, we were to go down the lake before doing a turnaround and swimming all the way back up, a strange swim map and it lead to a really tight starting pen.

The start of my swim was a disaster, i was completely caught up at the back, being battered, pulled along and someone even made a grab for my timing chip. I just didn't have time before the horn to get in a good position and i really suffered. The first 500m were just not going to plan, i couldn't swim at a hard pace and i was stuck between so many awful swimmers. Fortunately after a bit of a dig i managed to find clean water and start to pick up my pace and gain control of my race. The swim as it was in the Sprint was long and it felt that way, coming out the water i was quite dizzy from the waves and the battering but knew i had a lot of work to do.

The bike course was different again, still two laps but this course took us underground in tunnels around Chicago with some really technical corners and bends and some seriously fast sections. As there was no wind underground and it was warm air it was seriously fast on the bike. I had my good friend and fellow Brit Dan near me on the bike and we both pushed off this, hammering it hard and gaining a lot of places on the field. Again i was feeling very strong on the bike, my numbers were high but i knew i could keep it controlled and still run well. After the first lap i just decided to open up, hammer down the power and just go for it. I figured if i ran out of energy or couldn't handle it then so be it, but it was world champs and time to go.

Off the bike i thought i was up there again, maybe top 20 but i couldn't tell. I started the run in my usual style of going out hard. At the beginning of the run i was with a super tall American and a Canadian, both who were strong runners but who i soon dropped as they were putting me off my rhythm. I was then running with a really strong runner (Jordan a Brit) and a speedy Mexican and we began to really push the pace and chase the field. Coming into the dead turns i would sprint in and out of them to gain some time and not loose momentum. The second time i did this i was able to drop Jordan and it was just me and the Mexican. I soon came past my friend and who was first Brit Angus and then i just had to hold on for dear life. I had a lap to go and part of me felt good and the other part was exhausted. But it was now all or nothing, the last stretch and i let everything out on the course.

To finish 9th was massive for me, i really felt i had a solid race after the swim and did everything i could to lay it all out there. I was also the first Brit and that was also fantastic. I turned up to Chicago in the form of my life and was so happy to have two solid results after a long hard year. I worked very hard to get in that shape and even with my mid season blip im proud i managed to come back and get that result.

Thank you for your support and especially to my coach Graeme and parents.