Mountain Biking

This post is a bit of a retrospective one as with the Deva triathlon taking the forefront of the blog recently I didn't have time to write this one up. Here's an insight into how I like to cause my own downfall with regards to training. Usually if there isn't an injury/illness preventing me from training I find some way to hurt myself just before an event. Here's activities 1 and 2 in nonsensical training prior to an event...

Deva Triathlon Time

Slow and steady did not win the race.

I've just received an email confirming my time for the Deva Triathlon. I'm very pleased to have got round my first Olympic distance tri but I got round in a snail like time of 3 hours 18 minutes and 26 seconds. I pretty much feel like I could cut around 10 minutes off each section. The swim would have been a couple of minutes faster if I was just at the start line in time and I feel I would have swam faster if I was with the main group. The bike was slow and I know I need to work on this area but there's definitely margin for a large improvement there. The run was very slow and I definitely could have cut some time off if I'd pushed myself at the start of the run and loosened up a bit. Transitions would have been quicker if I'd have set stuff out properly before the race and if I knew how to get a wetsuit off! So sub 2 hours 50 minutes is my goal for the next Olympic tri I do. If you want to see a breakdown of my race it's on the results page.

Deva Triathlon

Today I completed my first standard distance triathlon, Chester's Deva Triathlon. Here's my views on how it all went.

The Joys of Cycling

There's 5 days left till I take on my first full olympic distance triathlon, the Deva Triathlon, and I've just kickstarted my cycling training. Proabably about time then.

Ed Brindley Award for Random Athletic Achievement #1

To get a few more interesting posts going I thought I'd start handing out my own awards. They mean absolutley nothing and the prize is nonexistent but I'm sure they'll be a coveted award soon and will overtake the sports personality of the year any day now. So the inaugral Ed Brindley Award for Random Athletic Achievement goes to...

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

My last post was about how I was gonna start up the blog and post regularly but I haven't. I've been really busy over the last few weeks and it's been a bit of a difficult time as I've come to the end of my life at uni. I'd say sorry but fortunately no one reads these posts anyway! Luckily I have managed to fit in a couple of races so here's how they've gone...

Getting Back On Track... Well The Road

It's been a long time since I've written one of these but it's about time I did. One of the reasons I started this blog was to motivate myself into regular training, something that's been non existent in recent months. So I'm starting up the old blog to get my training back on track and get me out on the road running as it's only just over a month away till my first event of the year, the Chester half marathon.

End of Season

Nights come early, the weathers cold and winters here. It's the end of the triathlon season. At the end of the year I'll probably reflect on how it all went. But for now, here's a quick summary of how I think my first season in triathlon has gone.

Bluebell Duathlon Relay

Crossing the finish line

On Saturday my dad and I completed our first duathlon. It was a small charity event at the Bluebell Inn in Farnah Green, Derbyshire. Dad, despite being a keen cyclist, hasn't entered many competitions in the past, so I'm glad he agreed to do it. All his falls and metal hip/elbow has made him cautious of pushing himself too much in case he comes off again (as he should be). So Saturday morning and I'm up before 7 for the first time in a while getting ready for the 9am start. Dad being Dad decided to cycle to the event saying it'd be a good warm up. I passed on running there and got a lift off my step-sis Mel, cheers Mel.

Being a final year student is time consuming but here's 4 sport related things I've been doing this week

The last couple of weeks have been busy but pretty uneventful in triathlon terms. So I've tried to sieve out the boring stuff to update you on what I've been doing. If anyone has anything to say about my training leave some comments here. I'm hoping a bit of feedback from the blog might be able to jump-start my training.

Cheap Gear

Don't get excited this is not a blog about cheap drugs! It's just a quick blog to let you know about a site I've found on tinternet. It's called Sport Pursuit and you may see some budget buys pieces coming soon about stuff I've got from them. It's a site that finds sales and puts them in one place (it's on the website how it actually works). I'm putting this up now because there's some tri stuff on there some of you might be interested in. This includes a Pearl Izumi trisuit that I've just invested in for £39. There's also a slightly more selfish reason for advertising this site. Everytime a new person clicks my link to join up then buys something I get £5 to my account. So click on the link, join up and get buying some bargains... https://www.sportpursuit.com

Lessons Learnt The Hard Way

This time last Sunday I was sprinting over the finish line of the Chester marathon (I genuinely managed to sprint!). A week on I'm sat in bed contemplating a bike ride. To procrastinate a little first I thought I'd write a quick blog about some thing I think could have been changed to improve my run. So if you ever run a marathon try not to make these mistakes:

Post Marathon Thoughts

It was good, it was great, it was painful, it was horrible, it was exciting, it was boring, it was inspiring, it made me question myself about almost everything and it nearly made me cry. I did it. Somehow I managed to drag myself round the Chester Marathon in 4 hours 12 minutes and 52 seconds. It might not be under 4 hours as I hoped but I did it! I managed to muster up the willpower to keep running through the pain and can now call myself a marathon runner. I'm not going to give you a step by step account of the race (It took over 4 hours that'd just be boring!) but here's a little post match analysis.

Pre Marathon Thoughts

It's the evening before the Chester Marathon. The night before my last triathlon I was nervous that I wasn't prepared, so after only 3 weeks of training to get round a 26.2 mile run here's what I'm thinking ahead of the big day.

Marathon Moronity

With half a week to go till the Chester marathon I'm not feeling confident at all. Training hasn't gone well and I haven't stuck to my plan. I'm realising just how stupid it was to think 3 weeks would be long enough to train. 

A Grand Day Out

Between my laptop charger breaking and moving house I've not had chance to write a blog for a few days but here's my latest update on what I've been up to. On Thursday I went to Manchester with Alice to watch the National Track Cycling Championships. I've always enjoyed watching the track cycling on TV but I'd never even seen a velodrome before. Seeing as I'm back in Chester and Manchester isn't too far away, we made the most of free entry and went to watch some cycling.

Budget Buys - Speedo LZR Tri Comp Shorts

Does my bum look big in this?

My latest budget buys piece is a review of my brand spanking new Speedo LZR Tri comp shorts. 

It's not every day I go into a tri shop and pick out a bit of proper tri gear (in fact this was the first time) but I was desperate. I picked them up as a last minute panic buy the day before the Derby triathlon because I had nothing to swim in. Luckily it was my birthday recently and I had a little bit of birthday money left over. Seeing as I had to dish out on new swimming shorts anyway, I decided to upgrade my kit to tri shorts. A quick look online found end of season sales meaning the budget buy was on. But was the upgrade worth it?

An Upcoming Marathon, An Unlikely Time Machine and a Random Memory of Stingray

So with 19 days to go till the Chester Marathon I'm going to start training. It's only just dawning on me that I may have left it too late.

Budget Buys - Claud Butler Criterium

A review of my bike which will hopefully explain my new system of scoring budget buys.

My Latest Brain Wave

So I've used the few braincells in my head that seem to be working today and I've come up with an idea. So here goes...