The Bath Half Sunday 12th March I woke up feeling like death, I had been ill for the last week and I wasn’t sleeping properly. Physically I felt shattered and didn’t really want to race. I spent the journey there talking about how I was going to take it easy and working out what paces I would need to run to get around 1:40 ish. We arrived in Bath and it was crazy busy, there were hundreds of athletes everywhere and we hadn’t even got to the ‘runners village’ yet. With about 30 minutes to go, I ate a banana, went to the toilet and then headed up to the start pen, hoping to find somewhere to warm up. I got there and it was brilliant, instead of standing still, all of the runners in my pen (the elite sub 1:30 pen) were jogging round in circles and making use of the space. I turned and looked back to see the runners in the slower pen and they were all rammed in with barely any space to move. This did wonders to boost my confidence, I felt like a proper athlete! It became time to line up at the start because there were just a few minutes to go. It was in these last few minutes that I decided there was no point in holding back and I might as well run as fast as I can and see how it goes. The hooter buzzes and everyone starts moving forward, I was less than ten people back from the start line but still got closed in when it came to the first corner. Bath is a two lap course with a little bit added on at the start and the finish so I decided to have 1 sensible lap and 1 hard lap. While on the starting line I felt a strong urge to go to the toilet, obviously I put it down to pre-race nerves. Around 3km in I realised it wasn’t just nerves and another 10 minutes later I became very desperate so I ran off into a cubicle on the side. I came straight back out and got into my stride easily. I finished my ‘sensible lap’ and figured now I had to go for it. My 10km split was 43 minutes and with 11km left, I knew I needed to up my pace a little to sneak under 1:30. Around the same time, I noticed that I had developed some rubbing on the inside of my legs, and it really hurt but of course I soldiered on and tried to smile. At around the 10 mile (16km) marker I overtook a fellow Cirencester AC runner and said something along the lines of “my legs are completely knackered.” As if to sympathise, he replied with “everyone’s legs are knackered.” Except the people who had already finished, I thought to myself. Anyway, I had promised myself a fast final 5km split and now was the time to go for it, a man in a bright green shirt was running next to me and so I asked him if he fancied upping the speed a bit (from around 4:15/km to 4:00/km) he seemed happy to do so, but his legs clearly weren’t. I dropped him after less than 1km and carried on going. Within that last 5km I really started to tire physically and mentally. On five different occasions I could’ve sworn blind that I had seen my mum and brother standing on the side cheering me on but it was impossible as they were standing at the finish…? I turned the final corner and there was the finish, a mere 50 metres away. After 21.28km of running fairly quickly, I had nothing left for a final sprint. Despite not running more than 8km since January, I finished in 1:29.8 and in 490th position. (Which shows how living a healthy lifestyle does wonders for sustaining fitness). My final 5km had been just over 20 minutes and now I really was quite tired……. until I saw Chrissie Wellington and suddenly I was energised again. She had only beaten me by 9 minutes which isn’t bad considering she is 4 time ironman world champion! 5 minutes later, I had collected my finish medal and was lying on a massage bed with two ladies massaging me at the same time! I collected my bag and then chatted to some runners I knew from Chippenham Parkrun while waiting for Dad to make his way down to the runners village. I was excited to tell him about my race but all he could think about was his time of 1:39.59 which he was very happy with. We then found a family friend that we had travelled with who finished in 1:49:30. At the start of the race there were so many people that he was forced to walk and is confident that he could have done a 1:45.00! When I got home I decided to treat my legs to an ice bath. To be perfectly honest it was much worse than any pain I had endured during the run and I was very glad to get back out. Writing this on Tuesday, my legs are still very sore. Luckily it’s a rest day which I intend to take full advantage of. It is a good thing I wasn’t running a full marathon! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. #bigthingsarecoming Check out my social media accounts: Facebook- Luke Campbell Triathlon My twitter- @lukecampbell246 Instagram- @lukecampbell246 Please like, follow, comment and share my social media accounts! My email is [email protected], send me a message if you need any help with training, nutrition or have any feedback. A big thanks is needed to the people and organisations that support me, one day it will all be worth it! Pedal Potential Performance cycles South West Swim NDJ FITNESS Dyer St Chiropractors
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Review of February February has been one busy month, I’ve had two weeks of college and two weeks of holiday (study leave!). I always try to take a big advantage of the holidays where training is concerned and put in as many hours as I can. This month started on a massive low, I had injured both my Achilles resulting in running being very uncomfortable and there also being pain when I swam. This meant I completed minimal training for the first week of the month and booked myself a session with a physio asap. I took it super easy, swimming with only a pool buoy and not running. Saturday 11th February My Achilles was feeling better by now and I wanted to test it out so Dad, Ollie and I travelled over to Wotton parkrun to test out the course and more importantly see how my recovery was going. We arrived and it was snowing. Proper snow. The ground was soaking wet and almost all of the route was mud, not a good idea to wear my new running shoes :(. I was all taped up with KT tape and calf guards so I figured I would just go for it. I ran off with the lead pack and the pace was comfortable. I felt strong and started to play with the pace a bit, pushing hard on the inclines, trying to separate the group and after 2km I was out in front by a good 50m and feeling great. What a great day, I was injury free and feeling unstoppable. Reached the 3km mark and bang, pain shot through my Achilles and it hurt…bad. I stopped with a fake smile on my face and let the other runner go on to win. I was absolutely gutted, everything was going so well but I guess that’s what I get for trying to rush recovery. Dad and Ollie finished in good times and positions and I cheered on the rest of the runners, freezing cold in the snow. Sunday 12th February Headed over to see Jason Tait at South West Swim for my monthly endless pool analysis. Really starting to see a lot of progress as a result of Jason’s coaching, I’m becoming so much stronger and more powerful in the water because of the attention to detail. Today we worked on a lot of drills which focused on rotation and my ever going problem of hand placement - it’s getting better but it’s not yet perfect. I recently spoke with my old swim coach from the school triathlon club. The first time I met her I was 15 and I couldn’t swim 400m in under 7 minutes, now I’m aiming for sub 5:10. Without her, I don’t believe my passion and motivation to improve in swimming would’ve ever happened and for that I will be forever grateful. “The most important step of all is the first one.” Wednesday 15th February Some friends and I decided we were going to cycle 100 miles and not only 100 miles but to another country – Wales! I really don’t know why we decided to do this, it was absolutely horrible weather with the rain, wind and roads all terrible. It quickly turned into more of a psychological challenge than a physical one. George, Mark and Sil are all more experienced riders than me and I also had the more basic bike but anyway we got it done with two café stops and numerous toilet stops. The worst thing was by far the weather, had it been sunny, dry and warm I would’ve enjoyed every minute. We plan on doing it again sometime in the future, but only if it is sunny. Thursday 16th February I headed over to Dyer St Chiropractic in Cirencester for an appointment with Sarah Fellows where she looked at my Achilles and tried to work out what could be done to make it better. She concluded it was down to my running technique so we went out to the park and she gave me some things to work on, specifically arm movement and direction and foot placement. I can honestly say it was one of the most beneficial hours of my life. Sarah has so much knowledge which she applies to running that it would’ve been worth seeing her even if I didn’t have an injury. There was nothing I could fault about the session and I am very confident that when I am back to full fitness, I will be stronger and faster than ever. Sarah recommended that I ran for 10-20 minutes per day until I next see her, so that’s what I am currently working on. If you have any kind of running injury or you just want to improve your technique, book an appointment with Dyer St Chiropractic! https://www.dyerstchiropractic.com/ Saturday 18th February My first ever Performance Cycles Club Ride. I rode over with 3 other regulars (it was roughly 30km away from my home) and then we set of in one of the groups of around 12 people. The pace was good and I was working hard on the front until my chain fell off. No idea why or how but it did and I had to stop. I fixed the chain back on and then worked very hard to get back onto the group. We continued for another 30km back to the shop, stopped and chatted and then headed home. It was tough, 120km later and my legs were slaughtered. Looking at the stats, it was a very good ride averaging 31.5kph. This is equivalent to 74miles averaging 19.5mph. I am planning on completing the club rides on an alternative basis with parkrun. Performance Cycles is a great shop with very experienced staff who I am working hard with to achieve my goals. We have confirmed that I will be purchasing the Orbea Ordu TT bike along with some racing wheels for the season ahead. Along with other rides, throughout the week I travelled 360km (227 miles) with around 13 hours on the bike. There’s no way I will be hitting those miles every week but I’m taking advantage of all the time off in my holidays. Saturday 25th February The short runs are getting better, I’m getting stronger and more comfortable in the new technique and so I decided it was time to try out parkrun again. Originally I was only aiming for 25 minutes but when I got there I was asked to pace a young 9 year old friend who wanted a Pb but because he is under 11 he has to run with an adult and his dad is not fast enough to keep up. Of course I was more than happy and we did it. I pushed him hard and made him work but he got a 20 second pb of 28 minutes which he was over the moon with. When I first started doing parkrun I only wanted to complete it, I hated it. But I started to get faster and stronger and was so determined to get Pb’s. One day it all clicked in my head, I needed to push myself through the pain otherwise I would never get better. In 12 months I went from running a 24minute 5km to a 19 minute 5km. All because I realised how much my mentality affected my running. Now I can run a 17 minute 5km and I’m constantly pushing myself to get faster physically but also mentally. Thanks for reading, please share my blog on social media, I would appreciate it! #bigthingsarecoming Check out my social media accounts Facebook- Luke Campbell Triathlon My twitter and Instagram tags are still- @lukecampbell246 Follow me on strava- https://www.strava.com/athletes/12686138?hl=en-GB Please like, follow, comment and share my social media accounts! My email is [email protected], send me a message if you need any help with training, nutrition or have any feedback. A big thanks is needed to the people and organisations that support me, one day it will all be worth it! Pedal Potential Performance cycles South West Swim NDJ FITNESS |
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