Time soon comes around with Liverpool Triathlon this coming Sunday the 26th June and I feel I’m hitting some good form going into it after a great week of training. Not really high on the mileage this week but some really good solid sessions and performances helping with my confidence and motivation.
The pick of the bunch came on Wednesday night after deciding to do the Rainford 10 TT again. On what looked like perfect conditions on paper it was a different story on arrival with one regular quoting “it’s always windy here, no matter what”. Compared to my first attempt on this course it was looking good and I was confident in getting a PB and gaining a club standard with the North Cheshire Clarion with a sub 28:12 after missing out by 9 seconds first time around.
I was 3rd up with 2 fellow NCC riders behind me in 4th and 5th so my tactic was simply, go as hard as I could and don’t get caught by these two guys or I would never live it down. I started off well with the assist of a tail wind but suffered early on at the turn into the wind down to the motorway island. As I exited the island I saw that NCC rider Matt Ellis was gaining on my and I needed to up my game so not to be caught, luckily the was wind was assisting again and I was hitting some good speeds and got lucky on my approach to the next two islands as they were clear of traffic. As I turned for home into the wind I had managed to reserve enough energy to put in the effort and keep my speed up. Usually I have my average speed showing on my bike computer but I decided not to this time and just concentrate on putting the effort in, I could still see my current speed and new I was on for a good time even when riders 5 and 6 passed me, both Maxgear riders pushing for the win. I was just admiring them taking on a S-bend at 9 miles when pop… my back tyre went almost instantly flat and it was game over. I got off my bike and stopped my Garmin and read the results, 9.04 miles in 24:12 then I saw the average speed, 22.4mph. I was devastated, I knew I was going well but thought I’d be in the mid to high 21mph. The last mile was into the wind but I would like to think I could of held my average at just over 22mph for the whole 10 mile but I guess we’ll never know!
The rest of the week has been great; I even went out on Friday night for a 30min Fartlek run. I’m feeling as though I’m hitting peak form just in time and I hope I get more luck in the Triathlon with no punctures. I haven’t really set any targets apart from to beat last years’ time of 2:51:08 which I’d be very disappointed if I didn’t considering all the training I have done since then. If you were to push me for a target time I’d like to go under 2hour 40 but one thing for sure I’ll give it everything I’ve got.
Week 7 Stats:
Mon: CYCLE 10.70M Work@16.2mph AvgHR135bpm
Tues: RUN 2.59M INTERVALS SWIM 500M – Timed Slow 10 minutes
Weds: CYCLE 16M Rainford 9 miles @ 22.4mph SWIM 920M – INTERVALS
Thur: REST DAY
Fri: RUN 2.7M FARTLEK with hills GYM – WEIGHTS
Sat: CYCLE 15.61M @18mph AvgHR139bpm
Sun: REST DAY
Week 7 – Total SWIM 1450 Meters BIKE 42.31M RUN 5.29M
This year I turn 30 and its time I started to learn how to train correctly and turn my average times into more competitive times while setting my future sights on an Ironman. The biggest challange though is fitting all this in around becoming a daddy and the wonders of family life.
ironmeade 