Well the start of the race season is upon us, the first part
of my season is going to be focussed on trying to retain my RTTC TT Series (Vets
on Actual) Title, whilst also mixing in a few sprint triathlons. My first race
however, is this weekend and is the Maidstone Duathlon, which is certainly
going to be an eye opener I would suspect.
Now luckily I know the bike course very well, being the local
25 mile TT course, the new sensation of trying to bike hard after a 9.5km run is
likely to make it seem a whole lot different to what I am used to. I have done
some easy running off the bike, but I have yet to do a hard run and then into a
hard ride. I guess it is going to do one of two things, hopefully it won’t be
the breaking of me and I will “enjoy” it.
It also does mean a slightly different feel for me starting
the season, I know where I stand locally when it comes to TT-ing, what I am
going to be like in a duathlon is a completely new experience and if I am
honest it excites me a little, but also scares the shit out of me.
I am not sure how to approach the race, do I try and keep up
with the faster runners, and hope the hell I don’t blow majorly and take the
bike leg as it comes, or do I pace the run slightly easier and really hammer
the bike leg and then hold on for dear life for the final 3.5km run. It is supposed
to be a race where I try and get to grips with transitions between the legs,
and not really worry about the result, but unfortunately I know what I am like
and I will want to do the best I can. Let’s see what happens on the day, and I
am going to try and enjoy it first and foremost.
The winter period has been a bit of a challenge for me this
year, I was mentally spent after a long season, and it did take me a while to
get going again. This was shown with a slightly lacklustre performance at a New
Years Day 10, though to be honest I still think I went better than I should
have done given the bike training I had done. Since the New Year things have
got better and training has been going really well, power seems to be there
still, even with the reduced hours cycling, and my running has been improving.
I have had help with my running, I had a running technique
analysis session with the Running School www.runningschool.co.uk, which
identified some pretty big issues. I have since started on a course with them
to improve my running technique, so far this has helped with not being as sore
after runs, and recovery from runs seems pretty good. I also hope when I have
to run in anger on Sunday it will prove to be faster as well.
On to what happens later in the year, my big goal for the
first part of the year is an ironman distance triathlon, this originally wasn’t
planned, but I happened to win an entry for the Castle Triathlon Bastion event
at Hever Castle http://www.castletriathlonseries.co.uk/en/bastion-long-distance/.
Now with this being local I couldn’t turn down the opportunity, but if I am
being honest it is going to prove a huge challenge for me and my coach to get
me ready for it in July. My coach even suggested I might look at not doing the
RTTC TT Series so I could concentrate on it, but me being stubborn said I think
I can do both, only time will tell.
I am split between trying to do very well in triathlon and
also competing in my local TT competitions, to be honest I can’t do both, I
just need to work out which way I want to go, hopefully this weekend will give
me a little pointer. Which way the pointer points will dictate what I do beyond
July, I will keep you updated.
