Daz Does Tri

2014 is rapidly drawing to a close with a nice 2 week break from training. It's been an interesting year for sure. To be honest there have been no huge results, couple of dissapointing ones but mainly I've filed most races in the 'job done' box. Last weekend was my last race of the year, our clubs Ashman TT (which was postponed from summer). After forgetting my bike shoes and having to drive home to get them I managed all of 200m warm up before I was off (6 mins after getting bike out of the car)! My race finished with a puncture on lap 2 but in all honesty it was not going to make a big difference to the outcome of the race. Got to say it sums up my year on the bike really. I've just not got it right. Not trained hard enough and not done the right training. If I'm honest I just don't know what I'm supposed to be doing. I get the basics but not purely concentrating on the bike means I am not making the most of my time. I have no idea what sort o

Where to begin with this one!! Pre-race form has been great. Absolutely no worries with fitness, no niggles or illness, travelled well, slept well and felt relaxed. Paguera itself turned out to be a lovely place. Bike reccy of 2nd half of the course the day before the race gave the impression of a fast and fair course. Obviously I didn't see the long drag up to Es Capdella but I'd heard it was surprisingly comfortable. Probably only pre-race mistake I made was not running any of the run course, however it was advertised as pancake flat #hmmmm To be fair I never run the course but it would have been handy here on reflection as would a set of last years results! Race day

Last week had potential to go massively wobbly on the training front. A beer up on Wednesday evening, swimming club trials for oldest son on Thursday, all day at Lego Land Saturday and son's 7th birthday party on Sunday along with the usual noise and I must admit I was worried the last big week was going to be interrupted. Monday Rest Day. Well needed after 22 days solid training and only the 2nd zero carded for September (a record I think)! Actually felt good after this, starting to feel a big leggy with things picking up and sleep / nutrition has not been great and something to start addressing!

Good solid weeks training last week. Only missed 1 easy bike but did do an extra run. Pretty happy with the week but very tired. Sessions were not exactly as planned, Tuesday's run was better although still an easy session. Thursday tempo was only 5.59 avge for 10k but I held back with Dan for 3 (6.01, 6.03, 6.13) and did the other 3 (5.53, 5.51, 5.53) and felt good but still not like I could go loads quicker. Very tired bike Wednesday (19.4 avge and struggled into the wind) and a slow and heavy legged long run Saturday.

Last couple of weeks I finally feel like I've managed to hit a bit of form and it's no coincidence that I've had a nice routine going. The whole year I've always had something going on that's shifted things around. I've never settled into a routine and pretty much trained on the fly. I'm not looking for Iron hours but just getting the right sessions in at the right time seems to be working well. I'm pretty sure I'll be sticking to this over the winter as it seems top be working.

Triathlon, like being sick takes planning. Just like needing to make a doctors appointment 2 weeks before you actually get ill, the world of triathlon moves fast and you have to book races 12 months in advance. So, this year for me has been a strange one. I still don't know what my best/favorite distance is. Mid-season I was still considering anything from sprint to Iron Man as focus for 2015! Sprint - Did 1, got DQ'd in it. Lessons learned the hard way however this is probably going to be my best distance in terms of being competitive. Didn't enjoy it as much as I'd have liked - felt very panicky and rushed and never really got into a rythm until the run spread out. Best swim % all year to be fair.

Having time to reflect I can only blame myself Spoiler alert - it doesn't end well!! I'll preamble this blog with a note that I know it's going to sound like some kind of elaborate justification for getting DQ'd for drafting. How saintly I am am how I would never dream of drafting! I'm honestly not, as much as I can say I didn't intend to draft, I WAS drafting and I did deserve to get DQ'd. So it was the Big Cow sprint triathlon ETU qualifier at Milton Keynes yesterday. If anything at the very least it's a mouthful! This was to be my first attempt at sprint distance. After a slightly disappointing standard last week I was hoping this would make up for it. To be fair I fancied sprint could actually suit me more than standard as I tend to push harder on shorter distances in running. I also wanted to weigh up my options for next season over what distance to focus on so good chance to see if I can Q for a champs with no roll down spots.

I train about 12 hours a week for tri. My typical week is made up of roughly 6 hours cycling, 4 hours running and 2 hours swimming. I'm guessing that's fairly typical for a triathlete of my standard. I don't do any core/circuits and stuff and spend probably 6 hours on top of that travelling and farting about. That's quite an investment in time for someone with 3 kids who runs their own business. I certainly don't take myself seriously, however I'm deadly serious about my results. I want to be a competor not a completor . Don't take me the wrong way, I believe we have our goals and getting to the finish is as important for some as winning is for others. Trust me, I've run for Great Britain (proper track and field, not age grouping) and I've been 2 stone over weight trying to get round a marathon after 10 years of doing nothing but eat and drink. I just want to be the best me I can which in my mind is finishing high up the field (overall). So

The funny thing about Triathlon is that you never really know where you are in the race if you're not in the first group out of the water. As a poor swimmer, I make a judgement call on the effort I'm putting in. Same on the bike, I pick a pace based on last years results and see how it gets me. I know I'm overtaking people in my age group but I have no idea how many are in front. I just know it's A LOT! People from other waves are a variable time in front so I've also no idea where I am over all. So again I aim for swim / bike / run splits and hope they are good enough. The problem with that is it's basically bollocks!

I got the invite from Coleman to go on a trip to Mt Ventoux some time ago. It was all pretty vague but luckily one of our pals Tony was organising so I was fairly confident it would go ahead! If anyone knows Coleman, odds of something happening that he organises are about 3/1 at best, so I did worry it may not happen! However, we hit the 7:31 out of St Pancras on a wet Wednesday morning and arrived in Avignon by about 3pm local time later that afternoon basking in glorious sunshine. The journey went by pretty quick, helped by plenty of cards and coffee on mainly empty trains. Playing a 36 Euro cash game, I was reloading within 10 minutes but finished the journey nearly 100 euro up #result

It all started as a bit of harmless fun late last year. Conversations between myself, Ian and Adam roughly along the lines of 'we'd piss that if we did it as a team and get on the telly'. It's funny how when you don't have to run a marathon until 12 months time it doesn't seem that far. All winter we talked up how we'd smash it. Adam to swim a 45, Ian to bike a 4.30 and me to run a 2.45. Now in fairness, the other boys are a cut above me. I'm a club runner at best and the reality of what we'd signed up for hit me by London when I struggled round in 2.56 after dropping off pace at about 8 miles #ouch. I think the only reason the boys didn't drop me is there is a distinct lack of quality marathon runners looking to pop a 26.2 out on one of the hottest days of the year, when you could be anywhere from leading to an hour behind!

ETU Kitzbuhel Triathlon European Championships 2014 After 5 weeks or racing myself into shape, the big race of the year so far was finally on me - The European Age Group champs. This is my first chance to taste what Age Grouping was all about and I was excited and keen to get out there and smash it up. Mrs P and I arrived in Munich on Friday. After a long walk and an even longer coach journey we arrived at our hotel in Kitzbuhel in the afternoon with it absolutely hammering down with rain. Nice. The hotel - Q Maria Theresa - was lovely and the room nice and spacious which was unexpected. You could easily swing a couple of cats around if you really wanted.

The Grafman is my local middle distance race, hosted by my Club Nice tri, at Grafham water where I do most of my long runs in marathon training and on roads I regularly ride with St Neots CC. Up for this one? You bet !! I was going into this race pretty damn tired, hoping the last 2 weekends racing had kicked me into shape. I was disappointed with the Outlaw Half last weekend and had done some pretty decent training in the week. Attempting two 70.3 races on consecutive weekends was always going to be tough !!

After a false start a few weeks ago my racing season finally kicked off today at Ellesmere. After dropping child #1 off at Cubs camp in Henlow for his first overnight (2 hour round trip) I headed across country to Ellesmere to registration (another 3 hours). I booked a hotel in Cannock (an hour away) ages ago thinking it was a dog shit start, however with a 10.45 wave time it was pretty pointless. So I decided to hit registration on Saturday and bank a few hours extra sleep. Registration was painless and then I did a course reccy in the car. Looked pretty straight forward and could tell right off the bat that the roads were super slick. The bike course is a nice rolling affair, however there are some pretty tight turns and lots of them at the bottom of some steep drops. If the course stayed dry it would be fast, any water and my bambi-on-a-bike handling skills could cause multiple casualties!

You know Tri season is ready to kick off, when you're standing on the edge of a freezing cold lake at 7am with 50-60 other neoprene clad idiots ready to do an open swim session! That very session was this Saturday just gone. I journeyed up at sparrow fart o'clock with Mr Turner towards the end of a pretty brutal weeks training. In fairness training has been hit and miss since London. London was ok(ish). It was pretty much a damp squib. I set off at the right pace, met Micky Moore at 3 miles, held pace until 10. Slowly dropped ppace to 16 and then quads decided they did not like this. One.little.bit. I limped home in 2:56, a decent time however there was no heroic battle to hold pb pace or stories of starting way to quick. My legs didn't play ball and I limped round.

Every year I get to mid March and curse entering the London Marathon. Don't get me wrong, it's such a great day and it's a privilege to be able to get a GFA place every year. However, the long, cold lonely miles of Jan-March feel a million miles from running down the embankment in the sun with millions of cheering people putting as much effort into support as you do the race. Once the race is over and I'm in the pub enjoying a celebratory shandy or 3 I am buzzing again and so happy I did it, ready to push on with the season. London is always my signal that the season is ready to go and summer is finally here. This year has been a little different, I am feeling fresh and raring to go. The long runs I've really held back on the pace and my base fitness is bang on. I've agreed to run with my buddy Dan & Mike Moore at 2.49 pace which although is pb pace feels well within my reach at the moment.

After dipping my toe in the triathlon waters last year - so to speak - I am keen to make a splash this year. I got a taste for racing (which I loved) and set my stall out to enter some bigger races this year. Part of that was getting selected to age group. I raced the Anglian Standard European Qualifier last September with a hopeful view to getting on the team for Kitzbuhel. I was unlucky that the overall winner of the race was in my age group (no intent to qualify), and pushed my roll down prospects way down the list (needed 10 withdraws). Expecting bad news I entered the ETU middle in October and with only 21 athletes registered I was hopeful to make the cut.

What a difference a year makes. A Year ago I ran the Cambridge Half on a freezing cold morning and smashed my calves to pieces #ouch Yesterday I ran the Cambridge Half in glorious sunshine and topped off a 30k long run with legs feeling fresh and strong #happydays Back still isn't 100%, took an awful long time to settle yesterday but when it did at 10-11 miles I settled into a nice rhythem and felt good. Splits for yesterday race were - 6.51, 6.44, 6.46, 6.24, 6.32, 6.25, 6.31, 6.31, 6.25, 6.23, 6.19, 6.06, 6.08 - nicely progressive.

Long time no blog (why does every blog post ever written by anyone always start with this!!!) I guess the story version of this blog is eat, sleep, train, family holiday, work, tired, can't recover, long run, swim loads, don't swim at all, moan, eat, drink, sleep more, moan more, some training, not enough training aaaaaand repeat! Yup, I'm sure anyone that knows me will know the roller coaster that is my sporting career is back on the bottom! However, before DC has to get me on suicide watch I'm keeping positive as there are still good things happening and we are not finished just yet!!

Last year was my first season in Tri and it went pretty well. Swim went from armbands to a 26.25 1500m open tri, my run stayed in pretty good shape and I went from a truly shocking cyclist to a fairly competent club rider. I decided I wanted to have a proper go next season and first step was to upgrade my bike. Realistic choices were between Cervelo P5, Trek Speed Concept, Felt IA & Canyon Speedmax. I was going large!! After spending hours of looking over data, yaw angles & wind performance I ordered the Canyon as it's the best looking one :)

Wow, looks like every blog title recently is starting 'been a while since I blogged...' Looking back I have to be really proud of 2013. First triathlon, first Ironman, first run race win (since 1999) and first TT win, no major injuries, the list is pretty good. Lets not get carried away, I'm not exactly writing headlines like Mr T and Rich H BUT as someone who usually finishes every year with a tinge of disapointment, 2013 has to be my most consistent year. Lets start with some stats - Running - 1,487 miles in 184 hours Swimming - 101 miles in 63 hours Biking - 4,553 miles in 246 hours