Daz Does Tri

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.