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
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