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.