Tour of Wessex

It's been a while............

Well it has been a long time since I have updated Blog, main reason has been that I have been developing myself as a Coach rather than an athlete.  However I have not retired from competing, sorry to disapoint my wife.  Where should I start well lets's start where I left off.

I returned from Rwanda, took a bit of hard earned R&R, maybe a little too much.  However as mentioned above I was in full swing of launching Paradise Triathlon Training and had a lot of work to promote the first training camp to Seychelles in early 2011. I am not really going to mention too much about PTT in this Blog as you can view updates on website or Facebook Page Paradise Tri Training FB

Whilst on the Camp I took part in the ECO Healing 1/2 Marathon in Seychelles.  Very warm conditions even though we started at 7am.  The course was one of the toughest courses I have done as it undulated along an out and back coastal road.  I managed to finish in 1:32hr which I was very happy with considering I had very little miles training in my legs.  I finished 7th overall with a sprint finish with 3 other guys.  

Through out the camp I was involved in more of coaching the athletes on the camp then any of my own personal training as it was fro their benefit.  There is a a lot of feedback and things to develop for future camps and training holidays in Seychelles, but they are all positive and a way forward.

On return to UK in March I have been focusing of enjoying the 3 sports of swimming, cycling and running.  By this I mean that I have entered a few events this year that will be challenging but enjoyable. On my return to UK I have done the Bungay Blackdog 1/2 Marathon to which I came home in 1:30hr, not brilliant but once again still able to bring back the sub 1:25hr with a little bit of endurance and speed work.  I have entered the Tour of Wessex 28-30 May, a 3 day Sportif cycle Tour 106 / 117 / 106 miles and then a week later I am doing the Dragon Ride another Sportif ride in Wales 200km.  So been getting a lot of miles in my legs recently and love being on the bike.

Last weekend I raced at Homepierpoint Nottingham, in the Emergency Service Triathlon Championships 2011.  750m Swim, 20km Bike , 5km Run.  I went into this with very little expectations, previous years I have moved up the ranks 7th 2009, 4th in 2010.  The swim was really busy and one of the worst swims I have ever had, almost drowning 3 times, taking on water and goggles were knocked even further into my eye socket.  I exited the water in about 15th place  on 12:03min, really good transition with wetsuit coming of to plan.  Out on the bike, head down and driving hard on out section and then back into head wind as always on this course on the way back,  averaging 25.26 mph for the ride covering the 20km in 29:32min I came into T2 and out onto the run in 1st spot in pack of 5, with two relay teams just ahead.  Running well off the bike for the first 2km, getting into fast cadence and running tall, only one other was able to come with me.  We ran together till the 2.5km mark and he came through and ran a lot better into the head wind to the finish beating me by 15sec (20min 5km).  I was very pleased with efforts and Silver at National Champs.  Awesome