Another busy weekend saw me take in the London Youth Games on Saturday finishing 2nd in the cycling time trial and a quick exit to hit the road for Wales and Porthcawl and the main event of the weekend, the next leg of the British Triathlon Junior and Youth Super Series.
This event doubled up as a selection race for the GB European Youth Relay team, so Juniors and Youth raced together along with a group from the Irish Academy it made for strong competitive race with 70 starters. Also the first time for me swimming competitively in the sea.
I exited the swim safely although in a big group the race to the bike leg was frenetic and with so many athletes jostling for position at the exit from transition the inevitable happened with a couple nasty accidents with a couple of people hospitalised - James Allan, all the best hope your injuries are not that serious and you are back competing shortly - Once the riders settled there were 3 leading groups and I was happy to be in the 3rd especially as there were so many junior competitors some 3 to 4 years older than me left behind me.
Having exited the bike leg safely I got out on to the run and whilst my run still needs some work it is steadily improving. I finished 23rd overall and 6th in my youth section, and taking out the Irish youth member that beat me it means I was 5th from a Super Series perspective which is showing great consistency across the series. Hopefully I can maintain this over the last 2 races this year.
Given the older more physical competitors along with the size of the field this was a demanding race and as I am one the youngest in the field I am pleased with the outcome in what was one of the most enjoyable races of the series thus far.
Finally congratulations to Miles Burton who is the same age as me and finished 2nd overall so gaining a place in the GB European Relay team, another excellent performance from Miles and something for me to aim for.
Sunday, 3 July 2011
Sunday, 26 June 2011
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...
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.
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...
Monday, 6 June 2011
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!
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!
Monday, 23 May 2011
Its been 2 months of contrasting fortunes......
To say that there has been a few ups and downs over the last 2 months would be putting it mildly. Following the BTF Duathlon champs in late March which went ok ( not my favourite event by a long way) without being a major success, I followed up with a couple of warm-up events, being the 1st youth home and 3rd overall I was more than happy with the result at the East Essex Aquathlon following up the next weekend with winning gold in the u14 Essex 100m fly swimming champs.
As we moved through April and although my hayfever had kicked in by now I was quite hopeful of doing reasonably well at the Upminster aquathlon, a stronger event than normal as it included athletes from both London and Eastern regions this year as the event was in both regions leagues. The swim and transition went according to plan but out on the run I started to struggle badly and whilst I would be the first to admit my run is not my strongest discipline, I have got stamina and staying power, but not on this day as it became harder to catch my breath and I tailed off to finish 4th and off the pace of the front 3.
Thinking only that it was my hayfever causing the problem the weekend after I had a couple of disappointing swims in a local gala and at a regional academy training day on the Sunday I struggled badly for rmost of the day finishing absolutely exhausted and once again out of breath. Clearly it was something more than hayfever so it was off to the doc on the Monday who after running various tests on me informed me afterwards that I had acquired seasonal or exercise induced asthma, wonderful!
Getting that news was very disheartening and right ahead of the serious race season too, but with Mum and Dad reading every internet article under the sun on the subject and learning about some great olympians and other world leading sports people that manage to perform with asthma I am slowly coming to terms with it, although it has seen my training curtailed somewhat whilst the medication I now have counteracts the wheezing and fighting for breath I have been suffering from, hardly the best preparation for the Elite Youth Super Series that was coming up in just two weeks. As the days past though things improved somewhat but I had not yet really exerted myself to any extent at this point.
So this last weekend my trip up to Strathclyde, which was something I had been looking forward too, was full of trepidation and I was a little more nervous than normal as I was not at all sure how I would do or if I could even finish. In the end I could not have been happier with the result, although Mum was still quite nervous at the finish as I was puffing a little harder than normal at the end and in need of a puff on my new little blue friend!
The swim went well as I came out 4th and I maintained my position on the bike leg, but could I last the run leg with my breathing and a lack of recent training... I should not of worried though as I maintained my form through the run section and more than held on to my 4th place.
So now on to Bleinheim, and hopefully I can be a little more confident but I also know that those that competed at Strathclyde will also be joined by other top athletes that did not venture north to Scotland so maintaining a top 10 finish will be a challenge, but it should make for a good race in a great setting......
As we moved through April and although my hayfever had kicked in by now I was quite hopeful of doing reasonably well at the Upminster aquathlon, a stronger event than normal as it included athletes from both London and Eastern regions this year as the event was in both regions leagues. The swim and transition went according to plan but out on the run I started to struggle badly and whilst I would be the first to admit my run is not my strongest discipline, I have got stamina and staying power, but not on this day as it became harder to catch my breath and I tailed off to finish 4th and off the pace of the front 3.
Thinking only that it was my hayfever causing the problem the weekend after I had a couple of disappointing swims in a local gala and at a regional academy training day on the Sunday I struggled badly for rmost of the day finishing absolutely exhausted and once again out of breath. Clearly it was something more than hayfever so it was off to the doc on the Monday who after running various tests on me informed me afterwards that I had acquired seasonal or exercise induced asthma, wonderful!
Getting that news was very disheartening and right ahead of the serious race season too, but with Mum and Dad reading every internet article under the sun on the subject and learning about some great olympians and other world leading sports people that manage to perform with asthma I am slowly coming to terms with it, although it has seen my training curtailed somewhat whilst the medication I now have counteracts the wheezing and fighting for breath I have been suffering from, hardly the best preparation for the Elite Youth Super Series that was coming up in just two weeks. As the days past though things improved somewhat but I had not yet really exerted myself to any extent at this point.
So this last weekend my trip up to Strathclyde, which was something I had been looking forward too, was full of trepidation and I was a little more nervous than normal as I was not at all sure how I would do or if I could even finish. In the end I could not have been happier with the result, although Mum was still quite nervous at the finish as I was puffing a little harder than normal at the end and in need of a puff on my new little blue friend!
The swim went well as I came out 4th and I maintained my position on the bike leg, but could I last the run leg with my breathing and a lack of recent training... I should not of worried though as I maintained my form through the run section and more than held on to my 4th place.
So now on to Bleinheim, and hopefully I can be a little more confident but I also know that those that competed at Strathclyde will also be joined by other top athletes that did not venture north to Scotland so maintaining a top 10 finish will be a challenge, but it should make for a good race in a great setting......
Sunday, 13 March 2011
After the hard slog of winter training comes competition at last!
Well the hard work is almost done and what a relief to have a winter that has not been interrupted by illness or injury as the last two have. Mind you homework and school activities do there best to muck up my training routine!
Although I do some cross country events in the winter I only believe the competition season is with us once the County swimming champs are under way and this weekend I had a couple of races in my favoured fly event and feel happy with how things went with a sub 30sec 50m fly and a 10 second PB in my 200m fly the results of which will give me another run out in the regionals in June.
Now things start to pick up as various events from further swimming galas, some bike races and runs take up more of my routine than just training so we can see if all the hard work is paying off before we hit the triathlon season in earnest. Moving up to Youth age group this year I am also looking forward to more events like Eton and Blenheim as both the venues and competition are more challenging and enjoyable.
Although I do some cross country events in the winter I only believe the competition season is with us once the County swimming champs are under way and this weekend I had a couple of races in my favoured fly event and feel happy with how things went with a sub 30sec 50m fly and a 10 second PB in my 200m fly the results of which will give me another run out in the regionals in June.
Now things start to pick up as various events from further swimming galas, some bike races and runs take up more of my routine than just training so we can see if all the hard work is paying off before we hit the triathlon season in earnest. Moving up to Youth age group this year I am also looking forward to more events like Eton and Blenheim as both the venues and competition are more challenging and enjoyable.
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