Scottish training ... rainy training? To sum it up I would have to say they went hand in hand. I've been back in Scotland for a month or so now and it's been raining since I got off the plane!
...ok a slight exaggeration but that's how it can feel when you're out in the rain for a few hours each day. It's not bad though as I've kept my head very much down and enjoyed a solid 3 week run of consistent training. Once again I have no idea yet if it will work but that's what racing is for and I've got plenty of that coming up.
June 7th is the Blenheim triathlon near Oxford in England followed by a quick trip to Walton-on-Thames for the week running up to the Windsor triathlon on June 14th. The first race is a sprint (750m/20k/5k) race with the Windsor race the next weekend being an Olympic distance event (1500m/40k/10k). Both will be pretty much flat out as the guys attending both will be top notch and after not finishing the Windsor race last year I'll be hoping for a better result there this time around.
The last few weeks have been fun, as I've said getting in a lot of training, but also as I've been able to catch up with my family who I've been away from since last August and also for the last few days been able to spend some time with my oldest friend Pete! The name "Pete" is formidable to a lot of people who know me but not him as I have a lot of great stories where Pete is the main protagonist! We spent years swimming together and now he's in Edinburgh studying Engineering, so it's good to catch up.
Just a quick mention, been swimming with my old swim team recently and it's great to see old faces and train under one of my old coaches too. The kids are great and it's nice to give them a run for their money in some of the sets too! They did 10x400m's last night which they were very proud of ... until I told them of "back in the day", which was a wednesday by the way, when I used to have to do 15x400m's on 5.15 holding 4.30 :-D Good times!
Oh well I've got a lot more training to get through today so I'd better get ready,
Thanks for reading,
Mike
Thursday, 28 May 2009
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
Lance shows us how it's done
Lance's message to Cancer, heart attacks and accidents tht rob us of our loved ones. Great attitude. Stay positive and show adversity the finger!
Mike
Sunday, 17 May 2009
British Elite Nationals
Today Strathclyde loch near Glasgow, Scotland played host to the 2009 British Elite Triathlon Champs. It was a "maybe" on my calendar and we decided earlier this week not to race today, lots of people did race though and it was great to see some of my friends out there racing as well as some of the other top British athletes.
I've just finished a toughs week training down in Stirling with my coach Blair, it's been great getting some really hard work in again. Last week was mainly getting over my jet lag and now we can look ahead to the next race in June.
But it was nice being able to see the guys race today, parts of me wanted to be racing but parts also realised I am tired and this hard work I'm doing right now will do me good down the road.
Other mentions for the day go out to my buddy Mark Yeoman who raced at the Eton Super Sprint down south, he dominated in the tough conditions and even rode the last 2km of the bike with a flat tub...on his disc :) also my dad raced today up in Turriff near Aberdeen. He braved the cold (as did mark) and raced fast over the hilly course that I've done twice in the past, good job dad!
Training in the morning so off to bed for me,
Train hard.
Mike
I've just finished a toughs week training down in Stirling with my coach Blair, it's been great getting some really hard work in again. Last week was mainly getting over my jet lag and now we can look ahead to the next race in June.
But it was nice being able to see the guys race today, parts of me wanted to be racing but parts also realised I am tired and this hard work I'm doing right now will do me good down the road.
Other mentions for the day go out to my buddy Mark Yeoman who raced at the Eton Super Sprint down south, he dominated in the tough conditions and even rode the last 2km of the bike with a flat tub...on his disc :) also my dad raced today up in Turriff near Aberdeen. He braved the cold (as did mark) and raced fast over the hilly course that I've done twice in the past, good job dad!
Training in the morning so off to bed for me,
Train hard.
Mike
Friday, 15 May 2009
Tuesday, 12 May 2009
Back in town
Been back in Aberdeen for a week now and I'm already repacking my training stuff to head down to Stirling to see my coach and do some training.
It's been over 5 months since we last saw each other and, even though the Internet/mobile phones are great things, it will be nice to speak face to face again. Sometimes it gets hard to do the hard sets without a helpful slap across the head ... though I don't often admit it!
Was a tiring week last week with racing on the Sunday followed by 2 full days of travelling and then the adjustment of arriving back in Scotland. Think a few knocks that I picked up in my crash a few weeks back came to the surface too adding to any fatigue but as of yesterday I was back on track and am looking forward to my train ride down to see Blair this afternoon,
Will keep you updated on any fun training I do this week!
Mike
It's been over 5 months since we last saw each other and, even though the Internet/mobile phones are great things, it will be nice to speak face to face again. Sometimes it gets hard to do the hard sets without a helpful slap across the head ... though I don't often admit it!
Was a tiring week last week with racing on the Sunday followed by 2 full days of travelling and then the adjustment of arriving back in Scotland. Think a few knocks that I picked up in my crash a few weeks back came to the surface too adding to any fatigue but as of yesterday I was back on track and am looking forward to my train ride down to see Blair this afternoon,
Will keep you updated on any fun training I do this week!
Mike
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
Complete Wildflower Review
Hey guys,
Now that I'm back in home for a few days I thought I'd take the chance to write a fuller report on the my trip last week to Monterey County, California and the 2009 Wildflower Triathlon festival.
First I'll explain why it's known as a triathlon "festival"...
The race is held about 30 miles north of El Paso Robles in central California in the state park on lake San Antonio. Over the 2 days 35,000 spectators, officials, volunteers and insane triathletes flood into the park for the hardest triathlon course and race I've ever experienced!
Some would say I'm not yet experienced enough (only 12 triathlons into my career) to be a proper judge of a tough triathlon course but in the past 18 months I've learned this general rule, flat is easier and hilly is hard. Following that mantra Sunday's race was crazy!
The swim was great, out in front with another athlete for the whole 1500m taking almost 2 minutes out of the 3rd place swimmer and more than 4 minutes on the pack. From there we headed out onto the bike course straight onto a huge 2km climb, the climbing seemed to last for quite a while with me only feeling settled once we had reached 15km. I managed to hold top 3 until the 30km mark and by the time we had entered transition for the second time I was in 6th.
By this time the sun was beating down on the race with temperatures hitting 28 degrees Celsius. I made sure to grab plenty of fluid, my cap and sunglasses before heading out on the 10km run. I quickly ran back into 5th place but the path soon turned toward the sky and we climbed strongly from the 3-8km mark. I was shuffling by the top of the accent but had managed to hold off most of the pack still inside the top 10.
At the 8km marker the run took a sharp downhill turn and headed back toward the finish line, due to the screaming behind me I became aware of the fast approaching home team athlete. With 500m to go the road flattened out and he passed me pushing me into 10th place, as I got nearer the finish line however I started to take in some of the cheers from the 1000+ spectators out to watch the finish. With not much left in my legs I mustered up everything I had left and decided to sprint for the line. The runner in front of me had a 30m gap so I had my work cut out but luckily he had started to take in the home crowds cheers and didn't notice me storming up behind him, passed with 5m to go! 9th place.
Realising that I had probably just made an enemy I immediately ran back once across the line to shake hands/hug/congratulate the other triathlete. He was a great sport though assuring me next time he'd run across the line a bit faster.
It was a great experience being able to race in essentially the triathlon capital of the world as well as being able to put in a solid performance at my biggest race so far with 3500 athletes in my race. Now it's time to rest up, spend some time with my family and be ready to race again on May 17th.
Enjoy the pictures,
Mike
Monday, 4 May 2009
Wildflower
Race 2 of the year is complete, I'm not sitting in the airport in Vancouver waiting to get on my flight back home.
Was a tough day yesterday racing in the heat but it was great fun. I came out of the water first along with another athlete who road away from me on the bike. Straight out of transition you hit a steep climb for 2 miles, it was then a rolling 30km before heading back into the park and back down to transition.
I came off the bike in 6th and quickly ran up into 5th. I was feeling ok until we got into the sun and began to climb. I still held on though and had dropped to 9th by the peak of the climb (8km). The final 2km were all downhill and I opened up my legs as much as possible down the steep descent. I was passed with 500m to go and the guy got a good 30m on me but once we hit the finishing shoot I got out my sprinting legs and reeled him in regaining 9th place with about 2m to go.
It was amazing experience and I loved being able to hang out with Fraser too, we got put up in a big house 10 minutes from the race site and were given all our food in the VIP tent which made keeping rested and fed pretty easy. I also met lots of cool people in the sport like Fraser's friends Joe Gambles and Mary Miller. Really cool people who helped me a lot with my own race on Sunday.
Just about to board my plane but will be back in the UK tomorrow!
Mike
Was a tough day yesterday racing in the heat but it was great fun. I came out of the water first along with another athlete who road away from me on the bike. Straight out of transition you hit a steep climb for 2 miles, it was then a rolling 30km before heading back into the park and back down to transition.
I came off the bike in 6th and quickly ran up into 5th. I was feeling ok until we got into the sun and began to climb. I still held on though and had dropped to 9th by the peak of the climb (8km). The final 2km were all downhill and I opened up my legs as much as possible down the steep descent. I was passed with 500m to go and the guy got a good 30m on me but once we hit the finishing shoot I got out my sprinting legs and reeled him in regaining 9th place with about 2m to go.
It was amazing experience and I loved being able to hang out with Fraser too, we got put up in a big house 10 minutes from the race site and were given all our food in the VIP tent which made keeping rested and fed pretty easy. I also met lots of cool people in the sport like Fraser's friends Joe Gambles and Mary Miller. Really cool people who helped me a lot with my own race on Sunday.
Just about to board my plane but will be back in the UK tomorrow!
Mike
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