Hello, I’m back. If this is your first time reading one of my blogs, thank you for taking a look. I have not posted since the triathlon season finished as I have mainly been training which is not so interesting to read about. Anyway, I have 3 blogs lined up for the next few weeks so keep your eyes peeled for some exciting updates. This one is going to be focused on my recent competitions and my training as I know that’s what you all love hearing about… As most of you will know, at the end of the 2017 triathlon season I had planned to focus on improving my running before I officially start winter training. I also targeted the Aztec West Fast 5k series at the end of November where I was planning on going sub 16. Sadly this didn’t happen for two main reasons. Firstly, I picked up a nasty injury in my knee, which I tried to push through and even increased the time spent foam rolling and stretching but to no avail. Every time I returned to running, the pain kicked in within about 5 minutes. So I decided to visit *Sarah Fellows who fixed me and I was back running at 100% within 4 weeks. The second reason I couldn’t race is because the event series got cancelled due to ‘legal issues’. Now, I’m no lawyer but I struggle to find an issue with a few hundred people running (very fast) in a circle! Regardless I was back on form but without a race, what was I to do? …. Parkrun of course. *Sarah is a physiotherapist at Dyer St Chiropractic Clinic in Cirencester. She has helped me huge amounts with my running in terms of form, efficiency and reduced chance of injury and she is always the first person I go to for information. If you are currently injured or want to understand more about how to run with a technique that’s suited to you, I would definitely recommend visiting Sarah. You won’t regret it! Saturday the 16th December. It was a calm frosty morning and boy did I feel fresh. I hadn’t had any races for a while so was ready to go for it not to mention it was 100th Parkrun event and my 50th at Chippenham. After doing a long and vigorous warmup, I got to the start line and none other than Daniel Giles was there. This was perfect (Dan can run sub 17 comfortably and would give me something to chase) – However I had told everyone I wanted to win as it was my 100th! The race set off fast and we were on the perfect pace. It was going very well until the 4km point where I can see Dan pulling up just in front of me, I accelerate alongside and he claims to have a stitch (I don’t believe him) but I was still on pace so I push on with him very close behind spurring me on. We reach the final 200m which happened to be rather icy and slippery but I manage to put in a final burst of speed and cross the line in 16:57. I am now one of just five people to have ever run sub 17 at Chippenham Parkrun. What a good day. Oh and I was first finisher. Dan still claims he had a stitch but I think he let me win! If you can cast your mind back to the week before the Parkrun it was the Wiltshire Cross Country Championships which I had entered. But yet again a problem arose but this one was rather different …snow! It would’ve made the drive to the event rather treacherous so Dad, Ollie and I decided to give it a miss and spend all day playing in the snow. But well done to Will Crudgington for finishing 1st u20. Now for the fun bit. On the 23rd and 25th (Christmas day) of December, Isaac, Jacob, Ollie and I decided it would be a funny idea to run Parkrun in fancy dress. We also felt it was fairly fitting to go as Nativity characters. So Swindon and Chippenham Parkrun both witnessed The Virgin Mary (carrying Jesus), The Angel Gabriel, a Shepherd and a King. We had many photos taken and many cheers as we ran and it was probably the most fun I’ve had while running. To end 2017 on a high Dad and I returned to the Forest of Dean to race ‘The Immortal Sinner’. Some readers will remember that I raced the 7 mile and 7 hills event in 2016 finishing in 5th place in 55:45. Well this time I was racing the same route but twice! During the race briefing, the event director decided to inform us that these were the worst conditions he had ever seen the course, with mud and floods, which filled us all with great confidence !! Looking around on the start line there were only about 3 people wearing vests (myself included) which is always an indicator of how fast someone thinks they are(!). Off we went and I was in about 10th place at the start of the first hill, by the time we got to the top I was in 3rd place. I then comfortably held this position up until the 7 mile turn around point where one of the runners ahead of me stopped. Which meant I could either stop now and finish 2nd in the 7 mile race or continue and see what happens over the 14 mile race. Of course I decided to carry on and ended up crossing the finishing line in 1st place without overtaking the guy in front - how does that work?! Turns out he was about 400m away from the finish and the final marshal sent him the wrong way!!!! His Strava showed he continued to run up another hill before turning back around and crossing the finish line in a respectable 2nd place! Officially I won the race but the other guy was so comfortably ahead of me, I figured he deserved the 1st place trophy so I went home with 2nd place and an extra t-shirt for being a good sport. I finished in 1:47.49 with a half way split of 56:20 meaning my second lap was in just over 51 minutes. I have no idea how I managed to pull that one out the bag but to repeat what I said last year, “this was, without a doubt, my favourite running race of the year.” I am aware that this has been a fairly long blog and for that I am sorry but I still have one last race to talk about so bear with me. Saturday 6th January 2018 and it’s the Gloucestershire Cross Country Championships. Isaac, Ollie and I decided to race because we heard it was a challenging course and we knew there was going to be a good turnout from team Cirencester AC. Ollie was competing in the u15 age category but also running alongside the u17s. I think it’s fair to say Isaac and I were the best supporters throughout that race, cheering him to 1st place u15 and 5th u17. We watched the female race wide eyed as Zoe Wassell of Loughborough University finished 1st roughly 2 minutes ahead of the next runner. Zoe and I have been training and racing together since the start of secondary school and it’s great to see how well she has progressed since being at university. It was now time for the big boys race, although Isaac and I are both u20 we were racing vs the men. We were two of the youngest competitors and we found ourselves right at the front of the start line. The race starts and we were in 10th place feeling fairly comfortably, I was wearing my 4 year old track spikes with 12mm spikes which means there would be no slipping from me today! The first kilometre of the race was all downhill which meant everyone went off way too fast. Team mate David Bell was leading the race at this point alongside a member of Cheltenham Harriers. I was feeling pretty comfortable running side by side with Isaac. With 1 of 4 laps completed, Isaac and I made it into positions 4/5 and we were rather shocked by this move. We continued to hold this until we overtook the runner ahead of us. Yes that’s right! We were now in 3rd and 4th place at the half way point. We got overtaken when George Watson of Cheltenham Harriers did the most amazing change of pace that I have ever seen which ultimately secured him 3rd place. I then managed to break away from Isaac and finished 4th with Isaac not far behind. This meant that Isaac and I finished off the podium in the u20 race. We clapped in the remaining runners and then received our medals. Three runners and three medals, it was definitely a cheery ride home! Unfortunately due to us not residing in Gloucestershire, we are unable to represent Gloucestershire in the inter-counties race. Finally a quick side note- I am very excited to tell you all that I am now officially supported by LPSEVENTS. They are a company based in Wiltshire that organise swim/cycle/run and triathlon events throughout the year. I am very grateful for their support so far and I look forward to working with them throughout 2018. More exciting news- I am now a member of the Zoot Athlos Racing Team which contains elite athletes including Will Crudgington, Harry Palmer, Brian Glynn and of course Kirk Latham! I am very happy to have joined this team and look forward to training and racing with all of the members. #currentlytakingideasforanewhashtag Of course a big thanks is due to my current sponsors who have supported me throughout the whole of 2017! Don't worry, I have a whole blog planned to talk all about this! Pedal Potential South West Swim Performance Cycles Cirencester Athletics Club The Flying Monk Triathlon Club To keep up to date with everything I else I am getting up to throughout the season, check out my social media pages- Facebook page- Luke Campbell Triathlon Strava- Luke Campbell Triathlon Twitter- @lukecampbell246 Instagram- @lukecampbell246
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I’m back. Apologies for the lack of blogs but I have been doing a huge lot of working and training with a little bit of racing so I’ve managed to squeeze a few action packed race reports into this one. Cotswold Aquathlon, 9.8.17- The final race of the 5 event series. After a record of 1st, 2nd and1st, I went into it with roughly a 4 minute lead over any other competitors that had a chance at winning the series so I guess you could say I was feeling pretty confident. The race was a 750m swim followed by a 4.5km run around the lake. For some reason I decided to try some new goggles, big mistake as they filled with water as soon as I put my head in the water, that with the sun setting straight into my eyes made it a nightmare to sight so I lost the lead pack and came out of the water in 4th in around 10:50. A rapid transition put me into 2nd starting the run and looking at the bloke around 50m ahead, I knew he had no chance. I deployed intimidation tactic no.1 which involved running past as fast as I could, keeping a really strong technique and barely breathing. He didn’t even try to stick on my tail. The unchallenged run was soon over and I finished first meaning I won the series overall (comfortably) by 5:30. 1st prize was free lake membership next year, a bottle of wine and a pair of socks (that were the wrong size). I found that the whole series worked really well and I simply can’t fault it. It was open to athletes of all abilities and made use of the brilliant setting. I did however see one woman cutting a corner on the run as I was lapping her but I didn’t say anything as we all know she was only cheating herself :P. Frome Sprint Triathlon: 20.8.17 Towards the end of July, Ben Sommerville, Loughborough University student and GB Triathlete, came to stay at mine so we could complete a ‘training weekend’ of some sort. He managed to convince me to race the Frome Sprint Triathlon on the 20th August. The race consisted of a 400m pool swim, 25km hilly(!) bike and a 5.5km run. I turned up in good time to set up transition and warm up. It was a nice day, minimal wind and slightly overcast. I knew nothing about the route and the signage was pretty poor. (nothing for registration and bike out was barely visible). I was in the final start with all of the fast fish. I think I put down a 5:10 swim which is good because I touched the wall at 5:12. I led the swim until about 8 lengths when Ben and another came past me in their lanes. I was a little bit tired, especially as I hadn’t swam since the Aquathlon 11 days ago (and not in a pool for 15 days). Out of the pool and ran the 150m to transition. I was in 4th place behind Ben and the eventual winner. Some young lad came out of transition beside me but forgot his racebelt so had to go back for it, he ended up finishing first youth and still not far behind me. Bike course was nice, lots of hills, down was fun, up not so much. I caught up with Ben quickly and we continued to re overtake each other. Him being 56kg meant he flew up the hills but couldn’t go downhill. Around halfway Jack Sexty (editor of Triathlon 220 magazine) overtook me, he came 4th to me at Westonbirt Sprint Triathlon. Ben and I came into t2 at the same time, I knew my run was slightly stronger than Bens so I hit the road hard to try and create as big a gap as possible. Before long I looked up and Jack was less than 50m ahead, I had to catch him! 1 lap in to the run and my legs were starting to seriously cramp, the hilly bike was taking its toll. (oh yeah, I hadn’t properly cycled since my last Tri Club ride about 4 weeks before) 2.5km to go and I started to up the pace, Jack was in sight and I knew I could take him. But it turned out I couldn't. He beat me over the line by 3 seconds. So you may be thinking I came 3rd. Apparently not, Ben and I both got a 2 minute time penalty for not putting BOTH feet down at a junction (even though we had both been waved on by the marshal and told it was clear to go) so I ended up coming 5th but still 1st junior. Ben came 37 seconds behind me in 6th and 2nd Senior male. Turns out around 50 people were given the time penalty so I don’t know about you but it seems like there must’ve been an error in communication between the marshals and competitors. It was a nice race, I did enjoy competing and I have learnt my lesson. Ben and I hope to return next year and take 1st and 2nd. Malmesbury 10km, 27.8.17 My local 10km, I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to win it but looking at the previous year’s times, there was little chance. My training partner, Isaac Mcadam and I signed up to the race with the aim of achieving around 37 minutes. The conditions on the day probably couldn’t have been worse. It was boiling hot! On the start line we were already sweating! Looking around we figured we might have a chance, the starter gun sounded and I knew we didn’t. Isaac and I ran at our own pace finding ourselves in 5th and 6th after 5km. Isaac was feeling good, I definitely wasn’t. After 8km I was struggling to hold the pace so Isaac went on to finish in 37:02 in 4th and I in 37:36 in 6th place. It was a very very tough race and Isaac did very well to come so close to our target which also made him first junior. My brother finished 34th in 43:15, Dad 48th in 45:07 and Mum 191st in 58:17. Cotswold Sprint Tri, 3.9.17 750m open water swim, 20km bike, 5km run This is my local triathlon, its fast, its flat and there is some mean competition! This was my 3rd time completing this event and it was my first ever open water triathlon. To make things more interesting, it’s my triathlon clubs main event (Flying Monk Triathlon Club), it was my first event registered as an elite, it was the south west championships AND my friend Ben (from earlier in the blog) was racing. My aims for the race were simple, top 3 swim (sub 10), top 10 bike (sub 30) and top 1 run (sub 16) I knew these times would put me in first place! I originally signed up as an elite because there had only been 2 entries meaning I was guaranteed some of the prize money as long as I finished the race. However as I arrived on race day, it turned out there had been another 2 late entries and one of them was racing to try and gain qualification for the Isle of Mann elite triathlon squad for the commonwealth games…no pressure. Elite men were racing with the 50+ male competitors which meant that I wouldn’t be able to draft Ben for the swim because for some reason he registered in the open category. The benefit of Ben not being there was that I started and finished the swim in first place! I felt very composed and strong throughout and know I definitely could’ve pushed on if required. The latter end of the swim was a mess because all of the slower competitors from the previous waves were dotted around the quite simply getting in the way. I exited the water in 9:44 and crossed the timer mat in 10:10 in 1st place. Flew through transition and as I was running with the bike, three rather slow competitors were walking down the single file path to get onto the bike route. Don’t get me wrong, I have full respect for anyone completing a triathlon. Unless they are going to get in the way and jeopardise my race. Anyway, a beautiful flying mount on to the bike meant I was soon flying around the Cotswold roads and trying to stay ahead of any other competitors. This didn’t last long. Andrew Nash (the guy from the Isle of Mann) came flying past me and I really struggled to keep up but managed to keep him in my view up until I got over taken again and then again by another two of the elite competitors. I was now sitting in 4th place but still pumping my legs as fast as I could. The benefit of the race being local was that I knew the bike course very well and knowing there was only 3km to go I really started pushing. This pulled me back closer to the competition and meant we all reached the dismount point within 10 seconds of each other. I then performed the fastest t2 of the day by 2.5 seconds which put me out in first place quite considerably. Now for my favourite part. I flew out of transition and ran like I was being chased (which I was) to try and maximise my lead. My legs felt amazing so I wanted to make the most of it. My first two km’s were 3:30 and they felt very good. Rather luckily, Ian Barrett (a Cirencester AC runner) came out of transition to start his 1st lap as I started my second. He is a very strong runner and so I did all I could to stick with him before dropping him when I had one kilometre to go. I came onto the finish carpet (waved my arms around and jumped up and down) and crossed the finish line as the first male competitor in a time of 56:49 just 6 seconds ahead of the second elite (maybe my lead wasn’t as big as I had thought). So being the humble person I am, I went round telling every person I knew about how I was first overall, making me the first elite, south west champion and tri club champion. Turns out, someone in a later wave actually beat me by 8 seconds meaning I was 2nd overall (but still first elite). In retrospect, there are quite a few things that happened that lost me those 8 seconds but I can only blame myself for wasting time running down the finishing carpet. Lesson learnt. Anyway I won £120 and I am the u20 South West Sprint triathlon champion. Ben came 5th and in 57:59 and unsurprisingly had the fastest swim split. Both of us have improved phenomenally over the last 3 years. Neither of us would’ve believed you if two years ago you had told us we would come 2nd and 5th while both being so comfortably under an hour. However I didn’t quite achieve all of my targets. Swim- 10:10 (4th overall) Bike- 28:40 (7th overall) Run- 16:42 (4th overall) Total- 56:49 (2nd overall) Both Ben and I will be back next year to take 1st and 2nd. Team Relay, 9.9.17 This is another one of my Tri Clubs main events although it was more for fun and not competitive at all… OG blog readers will remember that I raced this event last year on my 18th birthday, my team came 2nd, I was gutted and it ultimately ruined my birthday. This year I really wasn’t going to let the event get the better of me, I didn’t really care about the result and I just wanted to enjoy it. The race consisted of a 250m lake swim, 8km bike and a 1.5km run. Person one completes the mini tri and tags person 2 who does the same etc. etc. until athlete 4 finishes by running across the finish line. My team consisted of Me, Tom Riches, Ollie Campbell (my 14yr old brother) and Brad Toseland. I started the race with a strong swim and came out 4th, exited transition in 3rd, quickly overtook 2nd and then hammered on to try and catch 1st place. About midway through the bike I found myself behind a big truck that slowed to a stop, as I went to overtake, he shouted for me to stop and then a lorry pulled out of one of the side roads which meant I was completely static for 34 seconds and lots a lot more time in momentum and rhythm. Anyway the race went on and I came into transition around 90 seconds behind 1st place. I blasted the short run and finished in 25:30 ish. The rest of my team followed and by the time Brad crossed the finish line we had dropped into 4th place. It was a good result, a fun race and an enjoyable day. Well done to all of the Monks for competing. Chippenham Half Marathon, 10.9.17 This was a big day, not only was it my first half marathon race since the Bath Half but it was also my 19th Birthday!! I only found out about this event at the start of September so I didn’t really do a huge amount of preparation. On the Tuesday before the event I texted Isaac (from the Malmesbury 10km) and said “hey, fancy doing chippenham half on Sunday)?” he replied “I would be doing a long run anyway so yeah might as well.” and that was it. I signed up later on the same day, and Isaac signed up on the Friday, 2 days before the event. We arrived nice and early, got our registration packs, queued for the toilet and then got ready to race. Obviously not one to enjoy being the centre of attention, I wore a badge that read ‘birthday boy’ and wrapped myself in a shiny banner that also read ‘birthday boy’. Before the race had even started I had at least 30 people saying happy birthday and good luck. On the start line we purposefully placed ourselves front and central just for the pictures. Our race plan was to run an easy 43 minute first 10km, accelerate into pace for the next kilometre and then increase to 3:50/km for the final 10km. We figured it was a strong pacing plan but it requires tough discipline to keep the pace for the final 10km and ensuring there is a significant change of pace. The race started and we were swamped by lots of runners, literally hundreds of people came past us, some at great speeds but Isaac and I just continued on our pacing plan we knew how important it was to hold back early on to be in on a chance of reaching our target of 1:25. The km’s were flying by, we both felt comfortable and strong and I received a lot of birthday calls from the hundreds of supporters and marshals throughout. We found ourselves in a small group of runners which both of us knew and chatted to. Almost every time a km was completed, I would say “that was a little fast.” and Isaac would say “nah we were just going downhill.” (we definitely weren’t going downhill). We completed the first 10km in 41:23, not exactly on time but we were both comfortable so now it was time to start going for it. Our 11th km was in 3:59 and our average stayed below 4:00/km from then on. After this our pacing was very consistent, we really used each other to push ourselves which meant we wanted another change of pace with 5km to go. We were on for the target, now we just had to keep going! The km’s kept ticking by, we were getting closer and closer by every step and I was very very excited to finish. We hit the final sprint and put some speed on, agreeing to finish together, I grabbed his hand and we lifted our arms to come across the finish line in 1:24.14. I honestly couldn’t believe it! It was the best day of my life! Our final 10km was 38:42, only 70 seconds slower than my overall 10km time for the Malmesbury 10km 2 weeks before. And so there we have it, we achieved our goal and now it’s time to set a new one. Can I go sub 80 minutes at the Bath half 2018? We will see… Thank you for taking the time to read this and thanks to every single person who has supported and encouraged me in person or on social media, it all means so much to me! I hope you enjoyed reading! If you are interested in any tips, training advice or coaching, do not hesitate to contact me- [email protected]. Thank you to my coach Katie Synge for ensuring I stay consistent with my training and giving me the correct sessions to boost my fitness. Finally, a huge thank you to my sponsors and clubs who have supported me so well throughout the 2017 season, I honestly could not ask for any more from them! Pedal Potential South West Swim Performance Cycles Cirencester Athletics Club The Flying Monk Triathlon Club To keep up to date with everything I else I am getting up to throughout the season, check out my social media pages- Facebook page- Luke Campbell Triathlon Strava- Luke Campbell Triathlon Twitter- @lukecampbell246 Instagram- @lukecampbell246 The European Championships - 25th June 2017 Before I start, I have to say a huge thanks to every single person who has supported me throughout my journey to this race. I may not always show it but I truly appreciate every comment and kind word. Now for the race, anyone who has seen my social media will know that I bigged this race up hugely, it’s been all I’ve thought about since qualifying. Every training session, every race and (almost) every meal has been focused towards this event. So there was a lot on the line. On Thursday Dad and I to drove to Heathrow and met up with Chrissy, another age group competitor and member of my triathlon club (The Flying Monks) before boarding the flight direct to Dusseldorf airport. We then had to take an 6 person taxi van to our hotel just so it could fit the bike box in! I was using a Bike Box Alan, kindly supplied by Performance Cycles, which worked out well and did the job perfectly. After arriving at our hotel, Dad and I decided to walk down to the official team hotel and also have a look at the event location. What was expected to be a short walk, turned out to be over 40 minutes along the twisting Rhine. And 40 minutes back! N.B. Check how far you are staying from the event because it is very hard to understand tram lines when your German only goes as far as “Ja” and “Danke” In the following hours leading up to the event, I completed the swim familiarisation, collected my registration pack and had my personal mechanic (dad) put my bike back together. On the Saturday evening I racked my bike in the longest transition ever seen (honestly it was at least 400m long) and had a chat with some of my u20 GB buddies and other competitors. The big debate leading up to the event was whether wetsuits would be allowed. Dusseldorf had had nearly 2 weeks of 30 degree plus weather and the harbour area hosting the swim was warm. For this event the cut off was 22 degrees and I was secretly hoping it would be non wetsuit because of my fairly strong swim. Pre-Race thoughts I’m not going to deny that I wanted to win this race. Every time I closed my eyes I was imagining myself winning. Not one negative thought crossed my mind in the lead up to the race. I knew how fast I was and I knew that if I really could ‘unleash the beast’ I would have a very strong chance of coming out on top. Even racing in the same wave as the 20-24 age category didn’t bother me, it would just give me more of a reason to push. Race morning (Sunday) We were up at 05:30 and at 06:00 headed off to transition by taxi. Some food, final checks in transition and a warm up then headed to pre race briefing for 07:30. It was announced wetsuits would be optional. The 750m swim was in a fairly dirty side dock with zero visibility below the water and the exit what seemed like an endless number of steps up to the bridge. Then there was roughly a 400m run to the start of transition (my bike was at the furthest end possible) so add this to the length of transition and it would be almost a 1km run before I even saw my bike. It had been raining on and off so the technical 20km bike course became especially treacherous after prolonged dry spell – as well as tram lines to negotiate. After the bike I would have to push my bike the whole length of transition before starting on the 5km run. Mid warmup a tannoy called out for all of the 16-19 & 20-24 male athletes to get to the start line so I lubed myself up with baby oil at the wrists and ankles, got in the wetsuit and made my way down to the start. I was bunched next to a few other GB athletes one of whom being Sam Mileham (remember the name) who gave me a lot of help and guidance during 2016 regarding a blog and the process to qualify for age group races. We were joking around and everyone had such a chilled attitude that it felt like every other race. But it wasn’t. This was the European Championships and I wanted to win. Race time As we placed ourselves in the water alongside the pontoon the horn soon sounded and it was go time. I got off to a solid start with minimal contact with the athletes alongside me and everything was looking good. However, my arms started to get really tired and my breathing just couldn’t get into a rhythm. I passed the halfway point and found myself swimming alongside another athlete, we both breathed towards each other on every stroke and made eye contact each time. I have no idea who he was but I left him for dead in the final 50m. (Maybe he caught me up in the cycle but who knows?). Once the swim had finished I jumped onto the pontoon and sprinted up the steps before starting the long run to my bike. I quickly pulled my wetsuit down to my waist and held my goggles and hat firmly. Eventually reaching the bike I quickly took off my wetsuit and placed it all in the box, put on my helmet, race belt and then ran with the bike to the mount line where I completed probably the best flying mount I have seen in my life. Slipping my feet into my shoes and charged out onto the bike course. The rain meant the roads were very slippery and within 5 minutes I had seen 4 other GB athletes fall off their bikes going around corners. Coincidently they had all just overtaken me and clearly paid the price. One of these athletes was James Hodgson, a friend of mine in the 20-24 age category who got back on his bike and overtook me again before the turn point (Check out James' website HERE). I reached the end of the bike course, removed my feet from the bike shoes and jumped off the bike before the dismount line and proceeded to run the whole length of transition to rack my bike. A very speedy transition led me to sprint out and onto the run course. I knew that this was my opportunity to create the most damage. I had overtaken a Belgium athlete in transition and managed to pull away from him as the race progressed. Now to catch the rest of the athletes. Sadly that didn’t happen. I kept pushing but just couldn’t up my pace over the two laps. With around 200m to go I spotted another GB athlete in my age group so I made him a target. As soon as I hit the blue carpet I put the burners on and overtook him to finish as 4th u20 and 3rd GB athlete in my category. I was finished and I was happy. Although I got nowhere near the result I had wanted, I had the honour of representing my country and racing some of the best athletes my age. Sam Mileham (the guy I mentioned earlier) won the u20 age group and I can honestly say that he deserved it more than anyone else. He has been competing for Team GB for years now and in his final race for the u20 age group he pulled out a brilliant performance and got awarded the gold medal. (He was also sitting A level exams during the week building up to the race!). I wish Sam all the best with his triathlon and hope to race against him again where I’ll give him more of a challenge! Check out Sam's website HERE. Post race thoughts In terms of execution, my race was perfect, everything went smoothly and I had no muck ups. My health is great and training has been varied and led to PB’s this year. The only frustration is that I didn’t achieve the times I know I am capable of had I been racing to my full ability. I genuinely have no excuses as to what happened, it just clearly wasn’t my day. However, I did learn a lot, I have some big plans and I intend to race on that kind of stage again soon! I’m sure all of the GB athletes would agree with me that regardless of the finishing position it is a brilliant experience to race in the GB kit, and the city of Dusseldorf hosted a wonderful event. My race results are HERE. #bigthingsgotlostinthepost Well done to Chrissy who finished in a strong time despite nursing injury. Also to Adrian Williams, a member of Cirencester AC, who came 8th in his Age-Group. My greatest thanks goes to my parents for supporting me mentally, physically and (most importantly) financially throughout the lead up to this race. It is fair to say there is no chance I would be racing at this level without their help. It is also definitely necessary to thank my sponsors and supporters for all of the help I have received in the last year. Pedal Potential South West Swim Performance Cycles Cirencester Athletics Club The Flying Monk Triathlon Club To keep up to date with everything I else I am getting up to throughout the season, check out my social media pages- Facebook page- Luke Campbell Triathlon Strava- Luke Campbell Triathlon Twitter- @lukecampbell246 Instagram- @lukecampbell246 I must apologise for the time it has taken for me to write this blog but I can happily say that I have now finished college…forever! I have a lot to get through so it’s going to be a short, sharp (and fun) blog. Wootton Basset Sprint Triathlon- 14/5/17 This is a low key event with a fast and flat course. In the days leading up to the race I checked over the entry start list and I confidently assumed I would finish in the top 3. I know most of the other competitors and knew that none of them should have been a risk. Race day and I was very excited, plenty of time to sort out transition, warm up and mentally prepare myself. My swim wave was called up to the pool for the 400m swim and the race director called out everyone’s name, I was looking around sussing out the competition and getting more and more confident. Until he called out “Paul Ryman.” “whaaat?” I blurted out. (For anyone who doesn’t know, Paul is one of the best Wiltshire based triathletes and he regularly achieves podium at national and international events). Not one to be unrealistic, I knew there was no chance of me winning. I quickly ran out of the pool to tell my Dad, he replied with “oh you won’t win then.” Anyway, the race started and I was the first off in my lane, within 12 lengths I had already overtaken the other 3 athletes in my lane and I knew I was on for a good time. Hopped out the pool and stopped my watch. 5:07. Wow a 12 second pb - yes please. A rapid transition followed and I was out on the bike course in no time at all knowing that I was being chased down. N.B. not disheartened by my attempt at the Calne sprint tri, I attempted the flying mount again and it worked perfectly whooo! Paul came flying past after around 8km but I kept grinding away trying to lose as little time as possible. Turned out the cycle was actually around 23km and I came into t2 in 35.03 in unofficial second place and around 1 minute ahead of 3rd place. Another superb transition and I was out on the run. My legs were tired and they hurt. Fast forward 18 minutes and 51 seconds and I finished in 2nd place in a time of 1:00.1. How infuriating! I have a small admission though. When I finished the race director came to me and told me I was getting a 10 second penalty, obviously I challenged it because I had absolutely no idea why but it turns out I started the swim early. From my memory, I heard “3, 2, 1, GO.” I started when I heard the “GO” but apparently I was supposed to wait until I hear the whistle which was blown after they said “GO”. This makes absolutely no sense in my mind but hey it didn’t affect the result and it still would’ve been a 400m swim PB. As a result of the penalty I only had the 2nd fastest swim. To conclude, it was a brilliant event, the marshals were great, the organisation was flawless and I had great fun. Swim- 5:17 (2nd) Bike- 35:03 (3rd) Run- 18.51 (4th) according to my watch the run was actually 5.2km hence it being slow #noexcuses Overall- 1:00.1 (2nd) Well done to Paul Ryman who won in 57:26 and took the course record. dbmaxresults.co.uk/Results.aspx?CId=16421&RId=30013 Parkrun PB- 6/5/17 Today was the Cirencester AC club championships which was held at Swindon Parkrun. I headed over with the McAdams (the same family I went to Lanzarote with) who religiously run this event almost every week. I knew there would be some tough competition but I also knew I was the fittest I have ever been so I was very optimistic towards a PB. Isaac (McAdam) and I completed a strong warmup which included some sprints, drills and explosive stretches before placing ourselves at the front of the start line. The starter sounded and everyone sprinted off, I made sure to be well clear at the front on the heels of a fellow Cirencester AC member (Adrian). We quickly formed a pack of 4 which included Isaac and a regular Parkrun winner…this should be fun. First kilometre completed in 3:14. Wow just need to keep this up. Unsurprisingly that didn’t happen and the next kilometres were 3:23, 3:22 and 3:32. Lack of speed on the 4th km meant I was able to push harder on the final one. Adrian and I had broken away and were confidently leading the field. As the distance to the finish decreased I was pulling away from him and with 200m to go I put on a final burst of speed and finished in first place in 16:46 with my final km being 3:13. Adrian crossed the line in around 16:55 and the Isaac secured third place in a pb time of 17:22. I was over the moon (and knackered). The club 5km u20 record is 16:41 so I know I could beat it in a higher level race. SouthWestSwim- 11/5/17 Today I had a 1-2-1 open water session with Jason Tait from South West Swim. We video analysed my sighting and then worked on speed and cadence. Jason gave me a lot of tips and pointers as to how I can improve my open water swimming and make it as good as possible. I can honestly say that the help and support I have received from Jason has been invaluable. The quality and specificity of session has been brilliant and huge improvements have been made since we started working together. I would 100% recommend him for open water as well as pool analysis. http://southwestswim.co.uk/ Cotswold Aquathlon series- 17/5/17 The first race of the series. This comprised of a 750m swim and a 5km run. These are my strongest two disciplines so I was hoping to do some damage. My neighbour (Amy Bentley) gave me a lift to the event and we had plenty of time to register and warm up. I was slightly nervous but I knew there was no pressure. The transition area was straight out of the water and was set out in a rectangular shape. For some reason everybody had arranged their spots around the edge with no one in the middle. Knowing I would probably be in the first swim pack I set up my transition right in the middle where I had plenty of room. The race started and it was a quick swim, this was my first proper open water race situation this year so it took me a while to sort out my breathing and technique. I exited the water roughly 5 seconds behind the leader, flew through transition and sprinted out on the run. My head was very dizzy and I couldn’t really see properly. I soldiered on and got on the heels of the lead runner. As the race progressed he was clearly getting more and more tired so with around 2km to go I upped the pace a little and dropped him. I crossed the line in 1st place in 27:31. Almost 30 seconds ahead of 2nd place. Amy Bentley was 2nd woman in a time of 31:40. http://www.janet-whiting.com/events-waterland-aquathlon.html Wotton Parkrun- 27/5/17 With 2 days to go until the Westonbirt Sprint Triathlon, I figured it would be good to open up the legs and fly around Wotton Parkrun. I first did this event when I was injured with an Achilles problem so I didn’t manage to finish the race. Today I knew what to expect from the multi-terrain course and I was feeling GOOD! I overhead a very fit looking man on the start line say that he was going for the course record of 16:15, that was my chance of a victory gone so I just headed out and enjoyed it as a tempo run. I quickly secured 2nd place and continued into the finish in 17:38 feeling very very strong. The winner finished in 15:57, smashing the record. My brother finished 4th in 19:07 less than 10 seconds off the age group record and my Dad finished in 21:35. Westonbirt Sprint Triathlon- 29/5/17 The big day has arrived. Westonbirt is known for a fairly iconic race which often attracts some very good athletes. I already knew that Max Hazel would be there so that was 1st place out the window but when I arrived I found out Paul Ryman was also competing (oh brilliant!) just 2 days after winning the sprint distance national championships for his age group. This meant I would be going for 3rd overall and 1st u20. There were two very strong athletes competing in my age category. Jack Powis, who beat me at Oldbury in 2016, and Tom Kerfoot, who came 10th u20 at the European duathlon champs. The race started with a 400m pool swim, I was aiming for sub 5 minutes but sadly this didn’t happen, I couldn’t find my rhythm and I was struggling to hold the pace. I completed the swim in 5:21. There was then a 400m run to transition before I hopped on the bike and started to get the legs pumping. (I forgot to mention, it was probably the worst weather you could imagine for the race, the rain was pouring down and it was cold). I flew around the well practised bike course in 35:30 averaging just over 40kph and headed out on to the run course in 4th position overall and as 1st u20. I was struggling, maybe Parkrun had something to do with it. I continued to increase the distance between me and the following junior while getting closer to 3rd place. With just 300m to go I flew past him (Jack Sexty, author of 220 triathlon and world record holder for bouncing on a pogo stick for 10 hours and 21 minutes) to take 3rd place. As I was in the last wave to swim, I knew I had secured the position straight away. Paul Ryman won with a new course record of 00:59:44 Max Hazell came 2nd in 1:00.30 I came 3rd in 1:02.07 Tom Kerfoot came 5th in 1:03.21 Jack Powis came 8th in 1:06.06 (and the 2nd fastest bike split) I also had the fastest T2 by 0.3 seconds. Probably my biggest achievement of the day! For coming 3rd I won a bottle of wine, this came in handy as it was Mum’s birthday 2 days later. http://dbmaxresults.co.uk/results.aspx?CId=16421&RId=30016 Cotswold Aquathlon Series- 31/5/17 With only 1 day to recover, Amy and I headed out to the Cotswold Aquathlon. Confident in my last victory I completed a similar warmup and decided to hammer the swim and then hold off anyone else on the run. It didn’t quite go as planned. I felt very strong on the swim and came out of the water in 3rd place. My swim and transition was 10:21 so I’m confident my swim would’ve been close to under 10 minutes. I then came out of t1 in 2nd place and chased down the leader. I caught him quickly and attempted to stick with him but it was a struggle. My legs felt very uncomfortable. One lap completed, 1 to go. With less than 2km to go I got dropped. The other guy increased the pace and I couldn’t hold it. The hard swim and fatigue from Monday was making it hard to continue. I knew there was a long way before 3rd place so I settled into a consistent speed and finished in 2nd place in 26:19. 7 seconds behind the leader. On the plus side I was over a minute faster than last time and I got the CR on Strava for running around the lake. The guy who won will be racing in Dusseldorf but in the 30-34 category so although not a direct competitor, I want to beat him. http://www.janet-whiting.com/events-waterland-aquathlon.html Castle Combe 10 mile TT- 14/6/17 My first ever 10 mile TT and time to test out what the bike (and my legs) can do. I rode over to the event from home with a friend and warmed up around the track. I was feeling good despite a really tough track session the day before. I knew I was in no contention to win the race but I was aiming for a time around 23 minutes. We were set off at 30 second intervals. I flew out the blocks with the race plan of setting a high speed and maintaining it. It hurt...but it worked. 16 km of pain later and I crossed the line in 22:30 and finished in 18th place. I was chuffed with this result especially as I averaged 26.7mph (42.9kph). Next time I complete this event I will be hoping for closer to 22 minutes. http://shop.kinetic-one.co.uk/2017-time-trial-series-12-w.asp Prep for European champs I honestly cannot believe how quickly the time has passed. Only 6 days to go until the European Championships, my first international event. The details of the race are below-
I simply could not be more prepared for this event, I have completed a huge amount of training and received loads of support which I am very grateful for. Time to smash my goals and prove some people wrong. #bigthingshavealmostarrived Thank you very much for reading this, I hope you have enjoyed it. I would appreciate any feedback so hit me up on my social media. Please go check out my Facebook page Luke Campbell Triathlon, I would really appreciate it if you could go and give it a like. Also please check out my Strava- Luke Campbell Triathlon Twitter- @lukecampbell246 Instagram- @lukecampbell246 I will be regularly posting updates on my Snapchat so add me- @lukecampbell246 Please like, comment and share my posts! As always, big thanks to my sponsors and the people who support me- Pedal Potential South West Swim Performance Cycles In the following blog I am going to talk about my sprint triathlon on the 30th April and then do a monthly review of April. Sunday 30th April Oldbury White Horse Sprint Triathlon Today has been a long time coming, after very successful winter training, a new coach and a new bike, I went into the race feeling very confident about how things were going to pan out. A swim start at 12:06 meant I could have a small lie in before Dad and I headed over to Calne for the race. My nutrition was set out perfectly, my legs felt brilliant and my equipment was all prepared and ready to go. We arrive at the venue and the weather was overcast with some seriously strong winds, hopefully this shouldn’t be a problem as I would be tucked away in the aero position. Setting up in transition and I’m surrounded by people on TT bikes with full disk rear wheels. I guess it’s going to require me buying another bike before I could say I have the nicest one in the race (I’m open for sponsorship Argon 18;)) Realistically it would be less of a benefit having a full disk wheel in these winds. Anyway I set the bike up and started on my warmup, I felt very strong and no pain anywhere. Today was looking to be a good day. Standing at the end of the pool with 10 seconds to go and my heart was racing, I wasn’t exactly nervous I just knew everything would have to go well for me to get the result I wanted. The 400m swim passed by like nothing at all, I finished in 5:25 and ran out towards T1, first in my wave. *side note- now that I have a new bike I figured I would have to learn the ‘flying mount’ onto the bike (if you don’t know what this is, search it up on YouTube) so the day before I had tried it out for the first time ever using elastic bands. It didn’t work particularly well so I decided I would use thread today…big mistake. I slotted on my helmet, slid on my race belt and then picked up the bike and headed towards T1. Only problem was that both bits of thread had already snapped and the shoes were knocking the ground. I jumped on the bike and the shoes jammed against the floor completely stopping the bike so I had to flip them around and pedal with my feet on top. Now to attempt sliding my feet inside the pedals. My right foot went it perfectly, my left not so much. Being tri shoes they have a Velcro strap and while rushing to get them on I had pulled the strap out so I couldn’t hook it back around onto the pad. This meant my foot was inside the shoe with nothing keeping it in. There was nothing I could do so I carried on and it didn’t seem to be a huge problem. Now out on the cycle and there was a very strong wind all the way to the turnaround point. I was overtaking people the whole way and luckily didn’t manage to get overtaken myself. I got to the turnaround point, a big roundabout, flew around then started the journey back which was brilliant, the strong winds on my back practically pushed my all the way up. I was averaging around 50kph consistently and even completed 5km in 5:38. The dismount was smooth and I headed into T2 feeling strong. (A very important triathlon tip- always remember where your bike was racked) I came sprinting into transition with the bike and ran straight past my racking spot which lost me probably around 5 seconds…more of a psychological loss than a physical one, and then headed out onto the run course. I started off very strong, I ran the first 500m averaging around 3:10/km and then slowed it down, the rapid bike section had taken its toll. I continued on strong, targeting the athletes ahead and then overtaking them when the chance came. There was a mean wind on the way out towards the turn point which made coming back in very enjoyable, I was on for sub 60 minutes, I just needed to keep pushing. After 5km of hard running I finished in an overall time of 58:19 and in SECOND POSITION OVERALL!!!!!!! This was my first ever official podium finish and I am absolutely over the moon. I also recorded the 3rd fastest swim, 3rd fastest T1, 6th fastest cycle and 1st fastest run (great to know that recently changing my running style has paid off). The race was absolutely phenomenal and I loved it, even more so the position. I completed this race in 2016 and finished in 1:02:45 which just shows how the training and the new bike have made such an impact on my speeds. There’s still a lot of work to be done but I’m getting there slowly. My committed blog readers will remember that back in February I predicted a time of 58:59 which you can read about HERE. The following is a quote taken from that specific blog “This year I’m hoping for another age group win but to finish in at least the top 10, maybe even top 5 overall. Target time- 58:59.99” I clearly smashed that target. I also managed to beat the female course record set by my coach Katie Synge last year, maybe she regrets pushing me so hard :P. Only 7 weeks until my international debut at the European Championships in Dusseldorf, all paths lead to this race! #bigthingsarecoming (Also I would definitely recommend checking out LPSEVENTS, they run some of my favorite races of the year) APRIL Thursday 6th April Today was my third and final session with Dyer St Chiropractors. Sarah tested my flexibility, strength and stability and could see that I have improve considerably since our first session midway through February. My Achilles are no longer a problem. I am confident that with the consistent stretching and conditioning regime I am completing, there will be little chance for injury. Thursday 13th April The lake has been warming up quickly this year, it was around 15 degrees today and so I decided to swim 5km nonstop. It was at no particular pace with no specific goal, I just wanted to see what the time would be. After 5000m meters of constant swimming, I finished in 1:13.43 which I’m very happy with. It was an experience I won’t forget but one I do not wish to do again soon. Saturday 15th-Saturday 22rd April The family and I travelled over to Club La Santa in Lanzarote for a week of hard training and racing. Read about it in a previous blog HERE. Thank you very much for reading this, I hope you have enjoyed it. I would appreciate any feedback so hit me up on my social media. Please go check out my Facebook page Luke Campbell Triathlon, I would really appreciate it if you could go and give it a like. Also please check out my Strava- Luke Campbell Triathlon Twitter- @lukecampbell246 Instagram- @lukecampbell246 Make sure to like, comment and share my posts! As always, big thanks to my sponsors and the people who support me- Pedal Potential South West Swim Performance Cycles On the 15th April my family and I left England and arrived in Lanzarote for a week of training and racing at well-known sports resort Club La Santa located North-West of the island. This was my fifth time visiting the resort (the last time was in September 2016 for the 70.3 race, read about it HERE) and so I knew exactly what I had planned for the week and it was completely non-stop. Day 1: Sunday After less than 6 hours sleep, the week started with an open water swim in the enclosed sea water lagoon, there were roughly 15 participants and although social, there was an element of competition involved. I was one of four swimming in skins (without a wetsuit) as I figured a water temperature of 17 degrees was more than inviting. I swam roughly 1900m in around 35 minutes constantly progressing throughout the group and making the most of the warm water! Later on in the day was a track session open to both children and adults which involved running for a set amount of seconds and then turning around and running for the same duration in the opposite direction with the aim of getting back to the start line. The session was 30”, 60”, 90”, 120”, 90”, 60”, and 30” with half the rest of the effort. This session was tough with the heat and really challenged how well my body could recover between reps. Day 2: Monday Today was both the Duathlon and the Aquathlon races only 6 hours apart from each other meaning I would need to recover quickly, especially if I wanted to win both (which I did). The duathlon was a 2.5km run, 17km cycle and then a 2.5km run. I started off hard on the first run with the aim of discouraging any other competitors from trying to stick with me and taking advantage of the run being my strongest discipline. One man stuck with me for the whole run and really forced me to unnecessarily up the pace in an attempt to drop him. We entered transition together but I was out on the bike before he had even got his helmet on. (Transition is important!!) The cycle was a simple ‘out and back’, the out being constantly uphill and the back being equally downhill. Like most other competitors, I hired a bike for the cycle meaning the seat height was the only thing adjusted to me personally making the cycle harder than it should’ve been. Nonetheless, I didn’t see any other competitors for another 2km after the turn point which gave my confidence a big boost especially as the person in second place wasn’t the original guy who ran with me. Anyway I continued to spin down the hill, flew through transition and then went on to win the race by roughly 90 seconds with a comfortable second run. Although with dad still out on the course and my siblings both completing the easy morning run, the only people to see me finish was my mum and one member of staffL. This was also the first time I spoke to a girl called Elsbeth Grant (remember the name) who finished 2nd overall and I competed against throughout the rest of the week. First run: 8:13 Cycle: 27:42 Second run: 8:55 After making the most of the recovery time, I headed over to the pool for the start of the Aquathlon, a 200m swim followed by a 3km run. Obviously after comfortably winning the duathlon earlier in the day I was confident this race would be similar, I was wrong. It was roughly 30 degrees with no clouds and no drink station throughout the run meaning it could be quite hard. Confident in my swimming I started in the fastest lane, a younger girl turns to me at the start and says “You can head off first and I will follow.” “Thank you.” I replied although I wasn’t planning on giving her much choice in the matter. Turns out she’s a national swimmer and beat me out of the water… however she was part of a team entry and gave the timer chip to her brother who luckily for me wasn’t the equivalent at running. I jumped out the pool, as always flew through transition, and then headed out onto the unforgiving run course in second place. One kilometre passes by quickly, I comfortably overtook first place and held a pace of around 3:40/km. But then I start to hear footsteps behind me and I start to get worried. As part of a psychological tactic I didn’t look behind but I was confident it was Elsbeth, I was also confident I would drop her but every time I pushed away she followed and bounced back with a faster attack. The heat was draining and my legs were knackered, this was going to be a tough little race. With around 1km left she took the lead and attempted to break away, there was no way I would let it happen so I stuck on her heals and deployed my next psychological tactic: the confidence booster. I let her lead for a few hundred meters before reclaiming pole position and leading all the way to the finish before breaking away in the last 200m knowing this was where I could take the victory and crossed the line in first place. I can honestly say that was the hardest I have ever had to work during a race to finish let alone win. She forced me to work very hard and luckily for me I managed to dig deep and finish strong. Of course I have massive respect for her finishing just 3 seconds later after pushing me close to my limit in such tough conditions especially after also completing the duathlon earlier that morning. Swim: 3:07 Run: 11:47 Day 3: Tuesday Supposed rest and recovery day started off with an easy 5km in around 23 minutes followed by a 10km cycle to a local beach and then back. The main event of the day was a half marathon run which was a 3 lap course used at the Ironman 70.3. Personally I didn’t have it in me to run that far especially without being knackered for the rest of the week so instead my 14 year old brother decided to run it and finish in 1:48 which is very impressive, especially as that was his first run of that distance. Day 4: Wednesday My main event of the week, the Sprint triathlon! A 400m swim in the 50m pool followed by a 17km cycle and then a 4.6km run. After what happened at the Aquathlon I was hesitant to predict a finishing position before knowing the competition. My race tactics involved having a strong swim, very hard bike and a (hopefully) comfortable run. For some reason, the German National swimming squad all decided to compete in the triathlon and occupied almost all of lane 1 and 2 and not wanting to embarrass myself on the swim (again) I started in lane 3 and got caught behind other swimmers starting off far too quickly before dropping off. So I drafted another strong swimmer for almost the whole 400m before exiting the pool in something like 10th position. A very strong transition meant I headed onto the bike course in 5th position with some distance to make up, again on a hire bike. Within around 1km I had over taken all but one other competitor who I was slowly hunting down knowing if I could get ahead it would be unlikely he could stick with me in the run. I caught him on the first proper hill and kept progressing from there, after the turning point I didn’t see him for a good minute and figured it was unlikely I would be overtaken before the start of the run. I was wrong…again. He came flying past on the last decent grinding his legs in a huge gear while I was sat on the bike stem trying to be as aero as possible. We worked hard up the final hill before entering transition together where I lead out from the run setting off at around 3:30/km pace knowing there was little chance he would be able to run that after the hard cycle. I continued with this pace until the turn around point where I found myself at least 90 seconds ahead, I now took the opportunity to comfortably run back into the complex to claim my third victory of the week. Swim: 5:46 Bike: 26:09 Run: 16:43 Days 5/6/7: The last few days were spent more as a holiday as I had already completed all of the races planned. The great thing about the whole holiday was that I never felt tired, a lot of the days I was running more than once and my legs were feeling great. I guess this has something to do with the holiday only being a week but I was focused on making the most of it in terms of training as well as a holiday. We arrived home early on Sunday morning so I got a few hours of sleep in and then decided to go for a 10km run (mainly to get a CR on strava) to see how my legs felt and to try to loosen them out because it is now just one week until my first official sprint triathlon of the year, The Oldbury White Horse Triathlon. I’m really looking forward to this race to test how well my winter training has gone and to see how close I can get to the podium. Thank you for reading my blog! If you have any questions or comments please just ask and I will be happy to chat. #bigthingsarecoming *Side note- apologies for not posting a review of March, it simply was not the busiest month with no races and lots of training. I did however see Jason Tait at South West Swim which was brilliant as always and I picked up a bike from Performance Cycles which is even better than I was expecting. I also ran the Bath Half which you can read about in a previous blog HERE. Final words- Please go check out my Facebook page Luke Campbell Triathlon, I would really appreciate it if you could go and give it a like. Also please check out my strava- Luke Campbell Triathlon Twitter- @lukecampbell246 Instagram- @lukecampbell246 Make sure to like, comment and share my posts! As always, big thanks to my sponsors and the people who support me- Pedal Potential South West Swim Performance Cycles 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 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 Swole is the goal In this mid-month blog entry I’ll be talking about my goals and aims for the 2017 triathlon season. In terms of progress and achievements, 2016 was a brilliant year for me, I received a lot of support from a lot of different people and my progress couldn’t have happened without them. Here is a list of some of the things I’ve achieved:
To summarise, I completed more than I ever believed I could and even achieved some pretty decent times/positions. Every event and race is an opportunity to learn what I can do physically and mentally and I’m going to use the valuable experience I’ve gained to hit 2017 where it hurts and achieve some great things. Plan for 2017- The Bath Half Marathon- Sunday 12th March I’m running this race simply for the experience, I’ve been told that there’s such a brilliant atmosphere that it can pull you to the finish line and (hopefully) a Pb. Target time- 1.24.99 Oldbury sprint triathlon- Sunday 30th April My first sprint triathlon of the year, a pool swim, hilly bike and fast run. Last year I won the U20 category and came in the top 15 overall. This year I’m hoping for another age group win but to finish in at least the top 10, maybe even top 5 overall. Target time- 58:59.99 Wootton Basset Sprint triathlon- Sunday 14th May This will be the first time I complete this race which is apparently very fast. Looking at the times from last year, I’m racing to win, and I’m aiming for the fastest swim and run. Target time- 58:00.00 Westonbirt Sprint Triathlon- Monday 29th May My first ever triathlon in 2015. Pool swim, 23km bike and a fast and flat run, there is always some good competition here and I know the certain individuals I’m aiming to beat. A top 5 position would be ideal! After finishing the triathlon in 1:06, I told people that one day I would complete this race in under 60 minutes. They laughed and told me I was too ambitious, but now I have the opportunity to prove them wrong. Target time- 59:59.00 Dusseldorf Sprint triathlon- Saturday 24th June The European Sprint championships, this will be my first race representing Team GB. This is what every training session has lead towards. Every path leads towards this race and it’s my chance to prove what I’m capable of. I’m aiming for a top 10 finish overall and first GB athlete in my category. I have no idea what the course or conditions will be like but I’m aiming to finish as close to 60 minutes as possible. Target time- 59:59.99 Cotswold Aquathlon series- May 18th , June 1st , June 29th , July 13th and August 10th I will aim to do as many of these races throughout the season as possible. It’s a 750m swim followed by a 5km run. Target time- As close to 29 minutes as possible. LPS Events Cotswold Standard distance- Sunday 5th August This will be my first standard distance event and I know the course well. It’s very flat and very fast so I will be hoping for a fast time (even though I will have a middle distance tri the next week) Target Time- 2:30.00 Cotswold Classic- Sunday 13th August Stepping the distance up a level. I completed this race in 2016, it’s a flat and fast course with the chance for a big Pb! Last year I finished in 5:35 with a 2 hour half marathon to finish. This year I’m going to aim for a much faster time and use my experience from last year to make the most of it. Target Time- 5:10.00 Cotswold 5km swim- Sunday 20th August Swimming out of my comfort zone with this. Just doing it for fun and to see what kind of time I can finish in. Target Time- 1:15 Cotswold Sprint Triathlon- Sunday 3rd September I was 3rd U20 and 11th overall in this race last year. Its a very fast cycle and a slightly off road run with the potential for a good time. This year I'm going for the top 5 overall and 1st U20. Target Time- 59:59.00 Looks like 2017 is going to be a busy year.. Thanks for reading, please share my blog on social media, I would appreciate it! #bigthingsarecoming I now have a personal Facebook page- Luke Campbell Triathlon My twitter and Instagram tags are still- @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. Of course a big thanks to everyone who has helped me out so far this year, without their help, I wont be able to achieve all of the big things I have planned! Pedal Potential Performance cycles South West Swim Kurio Compression NDJ FITNESS Review of January As its coming to the end of the first month of 2017, I’ve decided to start doing an end of month review where I go over the main things that have happened. Occasionally I will do an individual upload for significant events and races. Saturday 7th January Today I was planning on doing the Gloucestershire Country Cross Country Championships where I would be attempting to qualify and race for Gloucestershire in Loughborough. I had been looking forward to this race, it was supposed to be a fairly fast course. Anyway, I woke up and for some reason decided to print out the signup sheet beforehand and actually read the ‘small print’ which stated that I needed to live or have been born in Gloucestershire for me to be able to represent the county…uh oh. Simply, I wasn’t allowed to race. Luckily it was a dry and clear day so I figured I would benefit from a 10km tempo run which I completed in 38:08 it was an unofficial Pb which I’m happy with but I know I could improve on in a race. Sunday 8th January I made my monthly visit to Jason Tait at South West swim in his endless pool. The session was very beneficial and we worked on rotation and arm extension. I am now swimming up to 4 times a week and I know that these sessions will help me progress a lot in terms of my speed and technique. Similar to the last visit, I decided to cycle home but on a different route which probably wasn’t the best idea, I got very lost, found a few dead ends and then joined a chain gang which carried me for around 5km before I turned off, got lost again and then made my way home. Although I do enjoy finding new places to cycle, I much prefer knowing where to go. Sunday 14th Jan The Performance Cycles Sportive, I was opting for the 45 mile route, very flat and very fast. It was a wet day with a continuous drizzle and light winds. I cycled the 10 miles to the event location, signed up and got ready to go. Everyone set off and I set myself in a strong pack averaging roughly 20mph, I was feeling good until I needed to pee…very badly but I also didn’t want to get dropped. (Luckily) someone dropped their pump so I decided to stop with 2 others, pee and jump back on the bike. When we were going again I turned to one of the other riders and said “We’re gonna have to work hard to get back to that group!” he replied with “I would rather stick to this pace but I’m up for it if you lead.” So I set off hard and after around 5 minutes look behind and I’ve completely dropped the other riders, so I was stuck on my own with a lot of time to make up. Eventually I worked back up to the group and just sat on their wheel. Everything was going great until roughly mile 40 where I suddenly bonked really badly, I had eaten nothing all ride and now I was feeling it. My vision started to get blurry and I couldn’t stop shaking, I knew my way back but I didn’t want to get dropped so I really struggled to continue and finally made it to the finish after 2:30 hours of riding averaging just under 20mph. I quickly ate around 7 pieces of cake, 2 bacon buns and drank two cups of tea roughly half full of sugar and started to feel a bit more awake. Luckily dad came to pick me up, I had lunch and then went to bed. It was a well organised event with a great route so definitely worth the money paid. Although it was a horrible experience for me, I am planning on doing the next one and any other local sportives. Saturday 21st January It was Saturday which also meant Parkrun day and I was going for a Pb. I was both physically and mentally ready and I had told everyone on strava about how I was planning on a PB so no pressure... The day was very very cold but of course I was still there in shorts and vest, treating this as seriously as possible. Conditions were perfect, looking around the start line there was only one other runner I was concerned about, Ethan, I used to train with him at Swindon Harriers and knew he could get sub 17:30. We both went off hard and dropped anyone trying to hang on, continually upping the pace. With 1km left it seemed like Ethan was struggling so I tried to break away from him which was met with a huge surge of pace from him who sprinted off ahead of me. I was on for a Pb but I wanted the win more. With every step I was gaining on him, the distance to the finish was decreasing and I was getting closer and closer to the back of his heals. 30m left and BANG, I flew past him, running as quickly as I could to claim the win and a new Pb of 17:20. The run was great and my tactics did work out but I know I still had some left in the tank and that I will break the 17 minutes soon! Saturday 28th January Parkrun again. 15 minute warmup, parkrun, extra 2x 1km reps and then warm down. This week was slightly warmer than last but my legs were tired and I knew I still had two intervals to complete afterwards. I started off slow and progressed into it, two frequent parkrun runners were leading and I sat in 3rd for the last 3km of the run finishing in just over 19 minutes. After 5 minutes of slow jogging I headed off to complete the 1km efforts accompanied by Otto Copping, a Team Bath runner. We both had tired legs but managed to clock in two 3:30kms which isn’t bad. Sunday 30th January After today, in the last week I’ve ran 51km, cycled 118km and swam 8,150m. This has definitely been my best week of training and I’m hoping to get some more solid weeks of training in before the season starts again. Bristol Aztec West 5km 31st January Today was a big day, I was going for a massive Pb and the Aztec West 5km was the ideal place to do it. On Sunday night I had felt brilliant, what could go wrong? Funnily enough lots of things. And those things happened. On Monday I woke up feeling really ill, nasty cold and a sore throat, not ideal. Later on in the day I went for a run without warming up properly and pulled my left Achilles, which I’ve had problems with before, which left it very uncomfortable up until the start of the race. I had taped it up with KT Tape and wore calf compression socks to keep it strong. Now all I could do was hope for the best. The race started and I had to go off at a fast pace, I was aiming for sub 17 minutes despite my injuries and cold. The rain was dreadful and the wind strong but I tried to stick with a fast pack of people. 1km completed and I over took Chrissie Wellington, undoubtedly the best female athlete to have lived (in my opinion) and I didn’t stop. At this point my Achilles was giving me grief and my throat was very raw but I had a target I was going for and I wanted it very badly! 3km completed in 10:18 which is a decent time in itself, now I only needed to run two 3:20 kilometres and I would be well under 17 minutes. It didn’t happen, I crossed the line in roughly 17:05 which for me was a massive disappointment and I was gutted but still a big Pb. At least now I know I could get under 17 in ideal conditions. Maybe next month. http://www.bristolandwestac.org/events/aztec-west-fast-5k/ Update on Achilles- I’ve had it looked at and Nick Jones gave me a brilliant massage which I feel has helped me out. I’ll be resting it for the next few days and hopefully my illness will also clear up as soon as possible. Of course a big thanks to everyone who has helped me throughout January, I know lots of progress will be made this year! Pedal Potential Performance cycles South West Swim Kurio Compression NDJ FITNESS Thanks for reading! #bigthingsarecoming Follow me on- Instagram- @lukecampbell246 Twitter- @lukecampbell246 Strava- Luke Campbell |
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April 2019
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