My Triathlon Journey

Post Bolton, general training, heat chamber, Mumbles and Pre Kona thoughts/feelings. Ok so first of all, I have written this off my tiny phone screen on the plane. That’s my excuse for all the grammar and spelling mistakes.... Spoiler alert I won a race I’m posting this from Seattle airport. 9hrs of flight time so far. 6 more hrs to go after the 4hr lay over.  The last 4-5 days have been intense but also full of pinch myself moments, I'm actually going to this race and I'm actually fit/healthy and prepped. I can't have ask for more. So what have I been doing since Bolton. Ultimately, I have been doing everything I can despite the dips in motivation to get ready for what is certainly going to be a huge undertaking both physically and mentally. In the last 12 weeks I have biked and run further then I have in any other 12 week block while maintaining my usual swim consistency. Quite incredible really on reflection as I was already doing a lot of miles over all three discipl...

So I didn't deliver on a promise - a race report on Leeds. In short - I swam really well (21:39), I cycled very fast (2nd fastest bike split across entire field - 57:06) and I ran really well "technically" a 10km PB (35:51 and 4th fastest in AG). I came out the swim knowing I had swam well, so I told myself GAME  ON. After the first dead turn on the bike I knew I was about 7th and by the end of the 1st lap I was 2nd overall in my wave. I knew I was gaining on first but also knew I wouldn't catch them by the end of the bike. After getting off the bike in 2nd (convinced the chap in front was in the AG below) I told myself I was 1st and I wasn't letting anyone go past me. The run was very very lonely, the 1st km was "slow" uphill and out of Roundhay park, the next 5km was fast, 17:22 to be exact I knew at this point I had to stay strong for 3km as only "elite" runners were really going to put time into me through that 5km. The last 3km ...

Cheeky shot after a full gas effort up Sa Colabra while away on camp in Mallorca I suppose it says a lot that I had to click "forgot password" when logging in...... Sorry mum I haven't been on top of blog writing. What have I been doing since IM Wales in September 2018? Lot's of running, moderate amount of swimming and a bit of cycling.... Oh and Nov-April saw me lifting "a lot" of tin in the gym.... For those of you who actually know me or follow me on insta (or the gram?) I have been working pretty hard to make sure I continue to improve at this swim/bike/run hobby I have become addicted to. I have no secrets, I have an excellent coach, I train consistently and I pretty much stick to what i'm prescribed. I'm not planning on going into loads of detail about my winter training, but essentially I had about 4-6 weeks unscheduled training at which point I was going a little mad - I love structure. Thankfully, Tim had it all under control a...

Me and my number 1 fan at the finish line - Next year she will be able to confirm or deny that statement. I haven't been someone in my short blogging/racing career to knock out a race report hours after the event but I really have taken my time to mull over my IRONMAN Wales 2018 race. Two reasons, my Mac gave up and died and secondly I have been busy trying to avoid triathlon related activity for a few weeks. Most of you reading this will know already my overall time was 10hrs 56mins, finished 103rd overall and when comparing it to last year I was 1hr 40mins faster!! So initially I was flying pretty high after crossing the line. However, it has taken me the best part of 2 weeks to get out of the post IRONMAN blues. Pre race I have no idea how I was so relaxed on the lead up to the race. Training had gone really well, Tim and I agreed on the the race plan and it was memorised. Therefore, the lead up mainly consisted of banana bread baking until I would be stood on th...

Finish line of Thames turbo with Anya and Tim #teamAWESOME Intro... So as I hit post on this blog it's exactly 7 days until IM Wales. I'm going to try an summarise how my training has gone since the HIM Barcelona back in May and my thoughts on how the big race may play out. Since May my adventure into the world of triathlon has been a team activity. By that I mean it hasn't just been me and a training plan that I have made up, after HIM Barcelona  Tim George  accepted my request for help. Although, I had achieved my goals in Barcelona I knew to take the next step forward I needed someone on my side who could have oversight of my training plan and help me achieve some larger goals. I have to say from the start one of things I have enjoyed most is not having to plan my own sessions, I just print them off, complete it, tick it off my schedule and move on to the next one. Tim and I had 16 weeks to build on my fitness, knowledge of triathlon and develop a r...