Polar have kindly agreed to sponsor me this year by way of supplying me with an all singing and all dancing heart rate monitor allowing me to track every inch of my training. More to come on this later!
A tough day out at Round 2 of the National Duathlon series in Steyning where I placed 6th.
The title of the post feels quite appropriate for two reasons, firstly I have just been put through a lab test on the bike at Colchester University which was the first kind of any testing I have done and secondly since my crash there have been further complications. I am awaiting x-ray results for my thumb which has made swimming and riding on the road rather difficult over the last 6 weeks. I do now seem to be managing to cope with regular training again so its a case of playing catch up with about just over 4 weeks until Lisbon. I hope I can now crank things up over the next 4 weeks and at least get back to where I was last year.
Steyning Duathlon was the first multi sport race for me this year and being part of the national ranking series it was sure to be a high quality field. After seeing the start list it certainly didn't disappoint the only question was whether everyone would show because over the Easter weekend parts of the country were covered in snow! It didn't though seem to dampen anyone's enthusiasm and a full field started.
I didn't really have particularly high expectations other than to get round in one piece with no injuries, crashes or going off course! The first run was 7 laps of a 1k circuit so I knew the going was going to be quick. I established myself in a group of 4 which formed as the chasing pack, I felt within myself and running strong and despite the conditions was around 23min for the first 7k, a slick transition and it was onto the bike, now here it where things got unpleasant. With the cold and the wet I was unsure what to wear on the bike in order to be as quick as possible but at the same time keep warm and hopefully dry. I went for the quicker option and half way into the bike was soaked through and started to get very cold. My performance started to drop but luckily T2 was in sight. My second run was down on where I would have expected it to be, I think by then the cold had set in and my legs were just not responding. On the whole though it wasn't a bad result considering I am not at 100% at the moment so its a bench mark of where I am at and i'm sure my next outing will be an improvement.
Steyning Duathlon was the first multi sport race for me this year and being part of the national ranking series it was sure to be a high quality field. After seeing the start list it certainly didn't disappoint the only question was whether everyone would show because over the Easter weekend parts of the country were covered in snow! It didn't though seem to dampen anyone's enthusiasm and a full field started.
I didn't really have particularly high expectations other than to get round in one piece with no injuries, crashes or going off course! The first run was 7 laps of a 1k circuit so I knew the going was going to be quick. I established myself in a group of 4 which formed as the chasing pack, I felt within myself and running strong and despite the conditions was around 23min for the first 7k, a slick transition and it was onto the bike, now here it where things got unpleasant. With the cold and the wet I was unsure what to wear on the bike in order to be as quick as possible but at the same time keep warm and hopefully dry. I went for the quicker option and half way into the bike was soaked through and started to get very cold. My performance started to drop but luckily T2 was in sight. My second run was down on where I would have expected it to be, I think by then the cold had set in and my legs were just not responding. On the whole though it wasn't a bad result considering I am not at 100% at the moment so its a bench mark of where I am at and i'm sure my next outing will be an improvement.
I do take encouragement from the fact that none of the athletes in front of me at Steyning can swim, which bodes well for when the triathlons start.
