An unconventional way to taper........

..........and one I would not recommend. With Eton being a key race for a number of regions for IRC qualification my week did not see the best preparation as it was a mix of exams followed by a 3 day DofE hike getting home at 5 last night completely shattered. So my training had eased off but the idea I believe is to be rested and I was the complete opposite. Given all that has gone on in the last few weeks I have come to the conclusion that tapering along with a balanced training programme is nigh on impossible for students and those in full time work. So I am existing on my winter work and going from race to race.

So I arrived at Eton feeling very tired, wanting my bed and not expecting the greatest of races, but in the end I couldn't be happier finishing 5th in the youth wave and 2nd in my year group.

The swim went well exiting the water 3rd, T1 could not of gone better and myself and fellow Eastern Region partner Connor Delaney got out on the bike together along with the eventual winner Miles Burton. I remained with the lead bike pack for the first lap of 5km but at the start of the 2nd the lads from the Optima Club, where John the London region coach has got them working well, made a break and Connor and myself were detached.
I hit T2 in 5th and although I could not make up ground on the front 4, neither was I caught and I was generally happy with my run, especially in the heat and not being rested from my jaunt around the downs I fully expected to tail off badly in this race but managed to maintain my rhythem.

I am also now really learning and understanding that the work you do in the winter does pay dividends through the season. Last winter, the first injury free one for a while mind,  I did nowhere near enough bike work and I feel confident if I had I could be finishing a few places higher in races, so I know  what I have to do this coming winter.
Now its on to Wales next week for what is the Euro Qualifier for those a year and 2 years older and hopefully I can enjoy another good run out along the way. I am remaining consistent though with my poor pre-race preparation as I head off this evening for Portsmouth and a 2 day event with my Naval Cadet Section from School, so lets hope me thriving on race action only continues...

Blenheim what a wheeze......

Following my 4th place at Strathclyde, which gave me a great boost following the ups and downs of the few weeks before, I was soon brought back down to earth with a bump again as I am finding the asthma is leaving me drained after events and it is taking me a few days before I can train properly again so I guess this is something I will just have to get used too going forward.

Training in the two weeks in between Strathclyde and Blenheim has been further disturbed by a trial run for my DofE silver award hike and GCSE module exams, although this is common for all athletes of my age, you cant stop thinking you are not as prepared as you might be or others are and given that Blenheim was a bigger field and had most of the missing competitors that could not make Strathclyde I was not as confident as I should have been but my nervousness may also been due to it also being an IRC selection race for those of us in Eastern Region.

Race day was good for me with it being cool, overcast and with just a hint of rain in the air. The swim went well untill the exit where I was almost on all fours up the exit ramp, then struggled to get my feet in my bike shoes at the start of the bike leg, so I could have saved time with both those errors so I was happy to be in the 2nd group on the bike, but I tailed off towards the end as I found it hard to catch my breath and my legs felt heavy. I had my pump with me but fortunately did not quite get to the point of stopping to use it and in the end had a reasonable and consistent run to finish 6th despite me wheezeing somewhat. Disappointed to drop a couple of places from Strathclyde, but given the larger field and knowing that apart from Miles Burton - who is an excellent all round athlete- who finished first all the other athletes ahead of me are all a year or so older than me I am pretty happy, plus I was further heartened by the comments from coaches and others saying that I looked quite strong at the end, so perhaps I am coming to terms with the physcological aspects of competing with the asthma and its impact on my breathing during extended exercise.

We now move on to Eton in another couple of weeks which will be really interesting as the 3 days prior to that race I will be trapsing around the south downs on my assessed Dof E silver award hike, so that race will be all down to adrenalin because there wont be much left in the tank at the start!