Autumn Blog In this blog entry I’m going to be talking about recent races, training sessions and MY NEW COACH! 15 October 2016- this was my first cross country race of the season representing Cirencester Athletics Club in the Gloucester league cross country series. It was a very dry and sunny day, the ground was completely solid and there was no spring in the short grass. I arrived in time to see the women’s race start and in the distance I watched them crawling up a giant hill which went on for around 200m, oh lovely. On the start line I could see there were over 200 people racing, and there were only around ten u20’s so I was racing against a lot of adults. The race started and I really put some pace on to get ahead of the large pack and in hope of everyone thinning out…it didn’t work. There was a massive pack of around 30 men running together at the same pace and it stayed like this for at least 1 of the 2 laps. I was passing people on the big hills but this just tired my legs out for the flats. I crossed the line in 73rd after 36 minutes and 54 seconds, it wasn’t bad but I wasn’t happy. I knew I wasn’t race fit but the position was a little disappointing. The steep hills and hard ground didn’t benefit me today and I would just have to work on my speed before the next race of the season. 2 November 2016 A member of my triathlon club had organised a trip out to Suffershire Watt bike studio in Cheltenham. This is a top of the range facility with 10 watt bikes and huge screens to enable you to follow virtual races or training plans. The purpose of our visit was the 20 minutes fitness test and after the warm up we went straight into it. My legs still felt heavy from the warm up (!) but I soldiered on. The FTP test was to measure the average power throughout the 20 minutes so I decided to start off slow and build it up progressively which worked fairly well and I finished with a score of 3.4 watt/kg which, for my first attempt, I was quite happy about. We finished the session with a 1km sprint race. I much prefer the shorter more explosive events and so I was hoping to win this. We started and I was keeping consistent and putting out a high power but I was currently second. This changed at the 500m point where I really started to force the pedals around and pulled back the lead to win in a time of (about) 1 minute 15 seconds. It was a great session which I really enjoyed although I definitely suffered the day after when I struggled to walk up the stairs. Check out the Suffershire website at - https://suffershireindoorcycling.co.uk/ 5 November 2016 Just two weeks later, it was time for my second cross country race of the season and I was feeling good!! Just over 8km of flat and solid grass, what could be better? Again I would be running against a few hundred men and this time there were even less u20’s but I decided to change my tactics. I went out comfortably but still pushing, my heart rate was good and my legs felt strong so all the way throughout the race I was over taking more and more people. I had set a fellow Cirencester ac member as a target and I was focused on beating him. I came so close and finished just one position behind him in a time of 31:55, I was 37th overall and the 4th u20, beating a lot of competitors that had beaten me at the previous race. For me this race went perfectly and I’m more than happy with my result as well as my time. As a team event, Cirencester AC came 3rd overall within this race with a very good turnout from some very good runners. 12 November 2016 Back to Chippenham Parkrun! This was the first time back for almost 2 months, it was raining, windy and very muddy. My friend and Team Bath racer Otto Coping, was there and we planned for a 1st & 2nd finish. We started off very quickly, our first mile was recorded as 5:25 which was much faster than we were both expecting. A short while later I was starting to struggle a little, tired legs and minimal rest meant my body wasn’t coping well with this speed, but Otto was racing on. We hit the muddy field and my legs just got heavier! I crossed the finish line in second place in a time of 18:03 with Otto finishing almost 20 seconds faster. It was a great run from him and one that left me tired out and slightly disappointed. 13 November 2016 My second endless pool lesson with Jason Tait of South West Swim. This time is was a video analysis session where my stroke was recorded and then analysed so we could see the small problems that needed changing. This week we focused on the fluidity of breathing using a Tempo Trainer (its brilliant) which beeps on a set pace so all of my strokes are consistent. I have also started the Swim Smooth advanced sprint triathlon programme which I am doing 3 times a week as well as the triathlon club swim training so I will be averaging roughly 10km of swimming per week. I hope to visit the endless pool monthly. 19 November 2016 At Chippenham Parkrun, the ground was wet and in some places icy - not very good conditions at all. Otto was there and so I knew I couldn’t let him beat me...again. The event director warned us that the course had to be changed due to the ice so we would run the first 300m on wet grass. Again this week Otto flew off at a great speed but I just sat back and let it happen, I was comfortable and would wait until the following two laps of the field to make some ground on him. After roughly 2km I was about 10 seconds behind him but the gap remained consistent, so he wasn’t pulling away. There was no way I would let him win two weeks in a row! My watch beeped on 3km and I looked up to see Otto stopped and bent over on the side of the path, what was he doing? I ran up to him and encouraged him to carry on, determined that we were both going to finish in the 1st & 2nd positions for the second week in a row. I knew we had at least 1 minute on any following athletes so I slowed the pace and made sure he didn’t stop again. Of course I didn’t want him to stop but I also didn’t want him to beat me(!) so I waited until there was 1km left before pushing the pace a little. I don’t know if it was out of choice but he didn’t stick with me so I went onto win my 10th parkrun in a time of 18:40, with Otto less than 10 seconds behind. Both were good times in some very hard conditions. This was the second time I had won parkrun after the lead runner either pulled out or significantly slowed down. New coach 2016 was my first year focused solely on triathlon and I have enjoyed many events. I miss the team sports such as football but recognise that to achieve my potential I need to focus more deliberately on one sport and not risk injuries from other sports. At the end of this season I had to make a decision whether to continue making up training sessions as I went along, or look for an experienced coach to take me up a level. My decision was to link up with Katie Synge, a current elite triathlete with a lot of experience competing within the triathlon world. www.jackpot-racing.com/the-team/katie-jemima-synge Coincidently both Katie and I raced at the Oldbury Triathlon earlier this year where she completely destroyed the course record. I have now completed the third week of being coached by Katie and I am really enjoying it. I’ve put more hours in than I ever have before and I look forward to starting to see the results from a bespoke plan. Katie has shown me a new, consistent side of training and I look forward to working with her at least until the European Championships at the end of June 2017. The training plan incorporates my regular training and race events with Cirencester Athletics Club and also the swim smooth coaching sessions with Jason Tait of www.southwestswim.co.uk Roll on 2017. #bigthingsarecoming
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