As part of the build up to the first major triathlon event of my season, the Paratriathlon European Championships in Turkey on 16th June, I have been doing quite a lot of racing. Here’s what I have been up to and how it’s ben going: –
20th April – Mulbarton Parkrun: This relatively new Parkrun (a free 5km event anyone can participate in) is only 10 miles from home, so I cycled out and back to make it a longer training session. I wasn’t expecting much after 3 weeks of heavy training and also not having done any fast running since December due to injury. I went with the intention of running briskly but not too hard just to see how my injury held up. Once the gun went I found myself out front with one other runner however. It wasn’t quite what I planned but I felt comfortable so just let my companion set the pace. We stayed together until 1km to go when another athlete came across to us and then attacked. I was able to follow but couldn’t quite close the small gap that opened up between us on a bumpy section of ground. 2nd place in a respectable 20:37 was fine by me after so long out injured!
27th April – Mulbarton Parkrun: After finishing 2nd the previous week I decided to make another appearance in this event, held over 3 laps of an off-road circuit. ‘Who knows, I might even be able to pull off the win’ I thought to myself. Sadly I was very wrong as some faster runners had turned up this week! I went with the early leaders, but the pace was just a little too hot to handle. I gradually lost contact and slowed before pushing on over the last 1km for 11th spot. Pleasingly it was a new PB of 19:57 and looking at my splits I should be able to run considerably faster if only I pace myself better. Another encouraging result!
5th May – Waveney Triathlon/National Time Trial Series: This was a double-header, Tri-Anglia’s Waveney triathlon in the morning and a time trial in the afternoon. The super sprint tri (400m swim/20km bike/3.2km run) is always great fun and a really well organised event. It was a nice sunny day too which is unusual for this early season tester. I had a solid race over-all and managed to knock 1 minute 15 seconds off last years time, including a good chunk from the pool swim. I’m not sure, but this may have included a small time penalty possibly incurred for an illegal over-taking maneuver – oops! Some great performances were put in by winner Joe Skipper who smashed the course record and also former Guide Liam Gentry who finished 2nd without any swim or run training…
The afternoon time trial held in Swaffham over a near 24 mile course was always going to be challenging after the morning’s efforts. Whilst my legs were tired I did have the benefit of Bobby De’Ath (CC Breckland) piloting the tandem who was fresh. In the end we didn’t go too badly with Bobby having a strong ride. In patches I felt OK too but struggled on the harder sections towards the end – perhaps not a surprise. We were fastest in the Para Cycling category but placed 3rd after factoring. A good training effort and for me ideal preparation for the Para-cycling National TT championships.
19th May – Para-cycling National Time Trial Championships: Jill, Carl and I travelled to Lake District for this event, a 15 mile blast around Bassenthwaite lake. It was a testing course with some challenging climbs before the final 5 or 6 miles along the main road with a tailwind. Sadly we punctured after 9 miles and lost maybe 10 minutes before getting a spare wheel. We finished, but our hopes of the win were gone…might have been close though.
26th May – Tear Jerker Triatlon: My 2nd tri event of the year and this time something different in the shape of an off road challenge in. A 750m lake swim, 25km mountain bike ride and 5km trial run through the onion fields (hence the name!) comprises this event held on the Elvedon Estate near Thetford in Norfolk.
It certainly lived up to it’s reputation as being one of the toughest events around. The swim wasn’t too bad, but the bike section was quite challenging (thanks to Bobby De’Ath for the loan of a mountain bike) with mixed terrain, water-filled holes and some technical sections strewn with tree roots etc…good bike handling, a bit of guess work and quick reactions saw me through! Little did I realise the run would be even worse. Early on it was up and down, twisting and turning almost every other stride. There were hundreds of rabbit holes and tree stumps to avoid too (or not in my case) and it was getting hot! In the end I got round OK, which was my only objective, finishing 58th. Well done to fellow Tri-Anglia members Kate Scotter (1st women) and Iain Robertson (4th Male). Thanks also to Vince Butler for offering to guide me on the day.
2nd June – Market Bosworth Triathlon: As you might have read, disaster struck with Jill taking a fall and hurting her ankle. It meant we could attend this event s it was replaced with some hard training! See here for more details.
5th June: East District 25m Time Trial Championships: Organised by CC Breckland’s Geoff Muller (our resident web guru at Tri Team Dawson), this 2 lap effort against the clock on familiar Norfolk roads was great training for me. I competed solo on my Matrix Pyro TT bike and went pretty well over the first 15 miles of so, but faded a bit towards the end…I only have to ride 12 miles out in Turkey luckily enough!
Iain against the clock
Now it’s a case of seeing what happens out in Turkey!
Iain