Time has flown since my qualifying race in Clumber Park back
in May; I can’t believe I have just less than four weeks until the big day in
Canada. Training has mostly been on track with the odd messy weekend which I
used to ‘calm the nerves’...well that’s my excuse anyway!
There isn’t much to say over the last two weeks as after the
crash I took a week off and the last week has been a complete mess with my
training sessions. I had managed to get my key sessions in which is what counts
and I’m glad I’m back to normal from tomorrow!
Last week included two quality track sessions; a tempo brick
session and a couple of long rides but nothing like my weekly routine. Oops!
With not much to say on the training/racing front I thought
I would get down how I got where I am now. From my first blog a lot of people
had asked me to put some stuff on how I got into all this ‘racing stuff’, and
how I ended up qualifying; so grab a cup of tea or High5 drink as it’s a long
one…
(No, they are not paying me for product placement :))
About 3 years ago my little girl was born which spurred me on to wanting to do something that made her proud; I didn’t know what to do but getting fit was something I thought would be a good idea as I practically lived on Dominos pizza and wine! Im not joking when I say I was a little fatty! So off I went on my first run it was going well with the wind in my hair-gel and my pace easily within 10 min miles I was flying, until about a mile in when I stopped to have a minor heart attack! It was a good first run!!
The weeks went buy and I had found a new running partner,
Dan Hurst, I can remember my first 13 miler with him, we hit mile 8 with me
ready to pack in and him telling me we were on the finishing straight and to
keep going...pfft! Thanks mate. Over the months we quickly covered a lot of
ground and as time went on and the more I raced I was finding I was
getting close to winning.
It took about a year until my first 10k win which gave me
the most amazing feeling in the world; I literally had dreams of this day!! I
find it hard to show emotions when I’m happy so I kind of played it off as no
big deal but inside I was screaming with amazement!!
It was time to join a running club; I first tried Hunts AC based in St Ives where I met Dave Connell (a very good runner in his day ;))
and Steve Wellman.
Steve took me under his wing as Dave was out with injury at
the time (old age I guess). He said I should try training on the track and set me up with some
basic sessions. I think my first session was 10x400s off 90secs and I averaged
67secs which wasn’t bad for me at the time. After a few more sessions with him
it was decided I needed to find others at my level to train with and with Dave
out of business I had to look at other clubs.
That’s when Cambridge and Coleridge came into it. First day
and I got introduced to my new coach Mike Smith who still to this day coaches
me! There were lots of runners with various rankings and abilities so I knew I
was in a good group. It’s safe to say at this point I was completely hooked and
treated every training session like it was a race for England!
After a few more races under my belt, I was classed as ‘one
of the fast guys’ in the club; with many wins, rankings and qualifications to
claim my name to.
Training to the max everyday and doing way more than I
should started to take its toll on me, I got the odd niggle so had to slow it
down and do a bit of cross training which led me into cycling.
The start of
something new…triathlon! It is by far the most addictive thing I have ever
done. I have lost all concepts of time and money (it’s certainly not a cheap sport!)
and regularly have the Mrs keeping me in check!
I completely restructured my weekly running session to
include cycling and swimming and after a few weeks I got into the swing of
things, at this time I didn’t have Bert but I had a beautiful old road bike
that got given to me (thanks dads, girlfriends, dad who sent me it from
Germany!) it looks like a piece of crap but I can still lead a fast group out
on it!
I hadn’t raced much
before my qualifying race at Clumber; in fact it was only my second race, but I
knew with my running being so strong I might have a chance to do well.
Clumber Park Duathlon: I was lucky enough to have borrowed a
friends TT bike for this race as I needed something that I could put a bit more
power down than the roady, the problem was that it was set up for someone at
least a foot smaller than me so I struggled getting down on the aero bars, but
I’m sure overall it did me better than the roady would have.
Race Time: Luckily my running didn’t let me down and I was
leading the run out, I started to slow and shorten my stride as one of the tips
were not to go too hard on the 1st run as it will ruin my cycling
leg. I got out on bike transition in 3rd place but immediately had
problems, as I was already tired and couldn’t click my shoes on to the pedals.
5 athletes flew past me leaving me out of the medals and lost opportunity for
the worlds, my main aim was to finish in a good time. 3 miles in and I had
found form and making some serious time, I had taken the places I needed to be
back in the medals and knowing I only had a 2.5k run at the end I was feeling
confident. The last 1 mile on the bike leg I started to slow and put the bike
in a liter gear to help prepare them for the run (another tip off the marshal)
a couple of athletes over took me but I was confident I could catch them again
on the run. I had a very smooth transition from bike to run and kicked up the
pace to get back into a medal position with a sprint finish for 3rd
in my age group. I QUALIFIED!!!
With Ian Turner and Darren Preston by my side ever since my
decision to get into triathlon I have come a long way since the qualifier and
every week see massive improvements, this alone is giving me a lot of confidence
for Canada. Without those two I think I would be lost! So cheers guys!
I have also joined NiceTri based in St Neots, and although I
haven’t had much time to get out with them recently I am looking to be doing a
lot of winter training with them.
So that’s my story, and I’m sure I have just proved that
anyone can do it if they really want it! In my case it was my daughter that
pushed me and everything I do is for her to be proud of her daddy!
Lots of people have helped me out over the years, with
training, paying for my races, giving me confidence when I’m down, becoming a
good friend, bike parts, sponsorship and more, so thank you guys!
Helen Sharpe, Isla Liddle, Dan Hurst, Dave Connell, Steve
Wellman, Mike Smith, Ollie Park, Sullivan Smith, Mark Vile, Paul Halford,
Michael Moore, John Herbert, Darren Preston, Ian Turner, Lee Brooks, Steve
Burton, Thomas Carey, Geoffrey Brewster, im sure I have missed numerous people
there is just so many.
Also a massive thanks to Michael Moore for the substantial
donation to my Canada fund! LAD!!
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