Support Update

Since moving to Leeds I have been supported by Rob Harvey who has taken the role as my coach, and his vast knowledge of the sport is helping me each week, particularly leading into the race season. Along with Rob's coaching I receive help from other coaches such as Jack Maitland. Leisure Lakes Bikes have also continued their support, which I have benefited from for the past couple of seasons, and this year have provided me with a Specialized Venge to race on for the summer. They have also provided me with a pair of Specialized S-Works Trivent shoes for racing in, which have a drawbridge open heel system and BOA fastening to make for lightening quick transitions! The staff in the Lancaster store are also a great help, offering advice, products and mechanical help! I would like to say a big "thanks!" for their support, and hope I can do the bike justice in the coming season! I'm looking forward to racing my first senior international level race in Turkey, in a European Cup event at the end of April.

Receiving the Specialized Venge from Pete at Leisure Lakes Bikes in Lancaster.

Warming down at the British Duathlon Champs on my new bike (also see - new shoes!)

Racing Update

Throughout the winter I did a few races, nothing super important, but just to keep sharp and keep myself motivated. Firstly was the BUCS Duathlon champs last November. Having only got back into run training mid to late September, I wasn't entirely sure where my run fitness would be, but raced a solid race. The first run was steady away for me with quite a few guys flying off up the road on the 2 mile dash! I moved through quite well on the bike, and the second run was ok, I lost one place I think. The only blip was in T1, my helmet hadn't clicked together properly, so came undone as i ran out towards the bike mount line. I stopped and fastened it straight away, losing a few seconds, but the referees rather harshly slapped a 2 minute penalty on my time, moving me from 16th down to 48th! My Leeds Uni teammates raced well, with Rich, Liam (one of my housemates) and Gordon all coming in the top 11, earning them second team overall. I did a few XC races to mix up my Saturday morning hard run sessions, and after January saw steady improvements compared to the same runners around me, moving up the field from Northern XC champs, to BUCS XC champs to English National XC champs, where I was pleased to finish 58th, narrowly beating one of my Leeds training partners Phil Sesemann.

Enjoying the mud at the Northern XC Champs!

Next up was BUCS Biathlon champs; Biathlon involves a swim and a run, but timed separately with a rest in between, and times equate to a certain number of points. I was happy enough to get second with a good run of 4.09 for the 1500m on the famous Iffley Road Sir Roger Bannister running track. I lost out to Phil who ran an awesome 3.59 on a cold day in March. The swim was a couple of hours later, and both Phil and I were in the fastest heat; I knew it would be asking a lot to pull out enough of a lead over my teammate to take the overall win, as I would have to beat him by around 5 seconds to get enough points! I felt like I'd gone off slow as the two guys in the middle lanes flew away from me (my first 50m was 27 seconds) but kept cool and at halfway could see over and Phil was starting to fall back, evidently going off too fast! I came back strongly to get a pb 2.04.09, with the third fastest swim, but Phil also swam well to get a high 2.06. Overall Phil's score of 2643 beat me by only 25 points, but I still got a satisfying silver medal, and with Jago Leckie 13th we wrapped up the team competition too! The Leeds Uni girls team were also strong with 2nd, 3rd and 4th giving them first female team. The next morning, on arriving home from my 90 minute steady run, I really didn't feel good, and decided to give riding a miss, and went to bed, thinking maybe I was just a bit tired. I didn't leave the house again until the following Thursday, and didn't train all week. I only really started training properly again two weeks later, having suffered from a horrible flu type illness/virus which left me with headaches, sweating, hot and cold flushes, achy muscles and a loss of appetite(!). My most recent race was the British Elite Duathlon Champs, held on an car racing circuit, on an old airfield near Loughborough. In the past few years this has been part of the national junior super series, but as a first year senior I didn't need to do it for the series, but decided it'd be a good warm up race ahead of my first Triathlon of 2013. It was important I viewed it as a good training session as much as a race, as I didn't vastly alter my training for the race, so knew my legs might not be quite as fresh as some of the guys out there. My first 5km run was a very average 16:30, which put me in a small group of 5 or 6 who all worked well together. We rode through quite well, catching 2s and 3s who'd missed the other groups, and ended up as the 3rd group on the road, with 12 guys ahead as we started the second run. My transitions were both slick, and I got used to my new bike and tri shoes, which was one of the objectives. I felt strong on the second run, although a few of the quicker guys from our bike group got away from me on the 2.5km run. I finished in 21st place, which was OK really, although I found it hard not to be disappointed with my first run which was around 20 seconds slower than the previous year.

On my new bike at the British Elite Duathlon Championships.

Winter Training Update

I am making a new effort to start to make some regular updates to my blog which was set up last year, and have so far completely neglected! Maybe it's slightly late to talk about winter training, with the first signs of some sun and warmth already showing here in Leeds, but here goes. Since moving to Leeds late last September to study Sport and Exercise Science, I have done some studying, plenty of training, explored new areas, and made a bunch of new friends and acquaintances! The winter months have been about steadily trying to build volume, particularly on the run side of things (which was probably my weakest area last season) and maintaining consistency. The swim training I am now doing is somewhat different to back home where the sessions were geared towards club swimming and shorter 50m - 200m racing. We have five squad swims each week, and the sets we do aim more specifically at racing 750m/1500m triathlon swims; it has also been an inspiring and humbling experience swimming alongside (sometimes) or behind two Olympic medallists, as well as a host of other top GB athletes.

Out on my bike with training partner Gordon, photo c/o Liam!

As mentioned earlier the bike training has been about consistency and exploring new areas, with some lovely rides out towards the Yorkshire Dales, and some good company and strong training partners. Throughout the winter we did a weekly turbo session as a group in the Leeds Met Sports Hall, to keep some speed in the legs, while most of the rest of the riding was steady miles building the aerobic base. Now its coming to Spring the infamous (among West Yorkshire based cyclists) Leeds Chaingang has started up and this replaces the turbo session. Done as a 25 mile hard ride whilst trying to pull some turns at the front, or else cling onto the wheels nearer the back, this serves as great a great race simulation session, and the presence of pure cyclists (as opposed to triathletes) makes it a tough enough ride for the Brownlee brothers! My main focus for the winter was to improve my running, and try to bring down my 5/10km times. Early in the winter, November 2012, I raced in the Leeds Abbey Dash 10km, and was rewarded with a PB of 33.37. Having gone off slightly fast in the high quality field and suffered towards the end I was optimistic that there was room for further improvement in the short-term future. The general plan for training over the winter involved steady mileage with key harder session on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Tuesday nights are track sessions, so hard reps working from 10km pace to down to 1500m pace on some sessions, as it's important to keep the leg speed even though it can be a few months until race season. Saturday mornings were tough grass reps sessions with slightly longer reps, and this was either with the Leeds Met Cross Country Club, or a small group of triathletes on our own, or on some occasions I raced XC instead. These sessions were about building leg strength, running hard and learning to hurt!
Thanks for reading, and I'll try and update soon!