There are 5 or 6 of us that are doing it for a 3rd straight year, all of us nutters but it does perhaps show what it has to offer, and 25 athletes returning for a 2nd time. I personally have some demons to crush, as last year was not a great race for me and it ended up being a real bit of a sufferfest on the run, OK actually it ended up being quite an easy run as I walked for a fair bit as I just wasn't run fit.
This year it neatly fits in 2 weeks after Cholmondeley Castle Gauntlet, and 2 weeks before Castle Howard Gauntlet, what could go wrong hey. After my surprising performance at Cholmondeley Castle I have had a real good week training, and even now I sometimes think Darren might have forgotten that there is an ironman on Sunday. The taper is slightly different to what I have done in the past so lets see how it plays out, Darren hasn't been wrong yet with pre race build ups.
I do have a few expectations come Sunday, first of all I really want a great race to the best of my abilities, I owe that to myself after last year. I have been on the podium in all my races so far, albeit my AG rather than overall, it would be great to remedy that on Sunday. It will also give me a chance to see how hard I can push myself on a course that is probably slightly harder than IM Wales, to see if my hopes for sub 10:30 at Wales is even a remote possibility. Going for a sub 10:30 here might be a stretch too far, but it is certainly worth aiming for.
As I have mentioned in other blogs, I am fitter than I have been for any other long distance event I have done so there are no excuses there. The only little bit of doubt I have is the bike as I don't feel I am as fit here, but it isn't a bike race and perhaps being a more rounded triathlete will pay great dividends on the overall result. I still expect to bike well, just not perhaps as good as 2014.
So in short
Aim for the podium
Try and go sub 10:30
Run as well as 2 weeks ago
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