It's a fine balance

It's a fine balance indeed, sometimes you feel as though you are running like a whippet and riding like wiggins and the next thing you know it's all taken away..

I'm riding down a relatively tame bridleway in West Yorkshire being 'careful' as Helvellyn triathlon is only 7 days away and by my own standards.. I'm on form. My swimming, cycling and running are stronger than the year previous and to add a little extra zip I've lost 3kg from my already light frame to help deal with the hills.. things couldn't be better.

Then.. I hit something.. I'm up in the air, I fly heels over head (if i'm being precise) and find myself unable to move or see on the floor.. 45 minutes later I'm on gas and air as I'm lifted into the helicopter to be airlifted to the local hospital.. this wasn't part of the taper plan

Shoulder has dislocated but fortunately my suspected broken pelvis is in fact muscle damage and a rather irate sacro illiac joint.. My initial reaction is devastation as my 'Helvellyn triathlon world' collapses in.. but this is soon followed by.. get a bloody grip.. it's a race and you can still walk.. lets put things in prespective.. at least I can marshal!

So a painful lesson to end the year but realistically it has been a very good year for me and my disappointment at not being able to compete this weekend should not over shadow this.. roll on 2010!

Here endeth theenduranceblog..

45.. gusting to 55 mph

That was the forecast but it never seems that bad in the car park.. looking up into the mountains we actually couldn't see anywhere close to the Helvellyn Summit.. it was clear from the start that there would be poor visibility (pardon the pun).

As we got to Swirrel Edge we were still sheltered from the strong Westerly winds and it wasn't until we went onto the top that we were blasted with the full force. We headed North to lower man.. "keep the drop on your right or you'll miss the path"..

we'd ran 300m and I shouted against the noise of the wind.. "You've missed it already!!" we corrected our course but visibility was 20 yards at best, the rocky drop off lower man is always reassuring then the horrible drag up Whiteside.. wind now so strong that I'm leaning at almost 45 degrees.

Off lower man and start the zig zag descent, we are now on the East of the ridge and suddenly silence and respite.. it's a different day.. the temperature starts to rise again and we run steadily out past the youth hostel down the long alpine like valley chatting as we go..

We'll all be back again in 3 weeks time to battle it out on the mountain, dragging our aching and burning limbs over the rocky ground and no doubt taking a few tired tumbles on the loose descents.. I think we're ready..

Here endeth theenduranceblog..

Sit thee doon and put it in'th big chonker...

Did a 25 mile TT at the weekend in Cumbria, good ride I thought until I saw the winners time of 50:49 and that I didn't even make the top 20 with my 58:20.. More to my amazement was the size of the chainring on the bike owned by the chap next to us in the car park. Basically if he cornered too far right his chain would hit the ground, must have been 65-70 teeth!! Interesting that a similar chain ring was chosen by last year's British Best All Rounder competition, Lance's high cadence obviously not the only option for success.

Pure moment of comedy a few weeks back when riding up a steep hill somewhere near Blackburn with a friend, as we passed some old bloke in a flat cap, smoking a cigarette he looked in disgust at the small chain ring I had chosen and shouted..

"Sit thee doon and put it in'th big chonker.."

We laughed so hard we nearly fell off our bikes..

Here endeth theenduranceblog.

Living the dream...

Perhaps one of the great things about triathlon is that you get the opportunity to compete for your country no matter what your age.. Last weekend coach Paul competed in the European Tri Champs as an age group athlete.. here is his story..


Last weekend I got chance to live the dream as a pro triathlete. I tried once before to qualify but didn’t make it finally I qualified to race in Holten, Holland at the European champs and wow! What an experience.

At first I was a bit down about my finishing time, I was hoping to go a bit faster. But when I look at it and think top 20 in my age group in Europe and sixth Brit home in my age group that’s not bad for a first attempt.

I struggled in the swim without the wetsuit having legs like lead, but it made you feel like you were actually racing elite and the dive in half way through was mega and best of all my swim cap and goggles stayed in place. Quick transition without the wetsuit and on to the bike, great bike course, closed roads and although narrow at some places I didn’t get stuck behind anyone but I was nearly taken out at one point by a crazy German dude racing past at 100 mph. Oh and I did do a bit of grass tracking when I took my eye of what I was doing for a second, good job there were no kerbs.

Into T2 and off on the run where I again struggled with the temperature, for some reason the heat seems to really effect me on the run and although tried as hard as I could I just seemed to lose all strength in my legs. The run course itself was great bringing you back into the town on every loop through crowds of partying locals and loads of GB athletes who had all stopped after their earlier races to cheer on the remaining athletes, plus my brother and sister in law who had flown over from the UK for the day to watch the race, a big thanks to them for their support. Water stations where plentiful with even some extra ones where the local families had set up their own station and hose pipes for cooling us down

All in all racing doesn’t get much better living the dream being a pro athlete for the weekend, great race, outstanding organisation superb hotel and country and finally not forgetting two trusty team mates to show me the ropes. Cheers Guys!

Bring on the next GB race I’m hooked now..


*I have to say Paul.. the photo does remind me of 'chips' aka California Highway Patrol (showing my age), but I can't help feeling that if you'd eated less of them you would have finished even higher up the field.. Well done pal! (ml)


Here endeth theenduranceblog..

Everybody.. needs somebody

Due to work commitments and coaching duties I rarely get to train with the club any more and spend most of my time training alone. Swimming has never been a personal strength and I have to admit that staring at the tiles can often lead to me leaving the water after 2000m have been completed.. I just can't take anymore. Needless to say, swimming has suffered somewhat but this week I joined the guys at COLT (City of Lancaster Tri) for a couple of sessions and as I hadn't swam with a group for some time it made me realise just how much easier it is as 3000m cruised by without any thought.

There has to be some sort of social element to training, if not, the end result will surely be burnout and failure to complete the schedule.. as I'm working up that way frequently and they were such a welcoming bunch, I'll definitely be swimming there again!

If you swim alone.. why not make an effort to find a local tri club session and do this once per week.. without any doubt you will feel the benefits!

Here endeth theenduranceblog..

Never happy..

So I did the Chester triathlon Sunday and finished 3rd overall behind Roger Wilkins and Martin Cain. Both are flying at the moment and as they are both cracking guys I don't think I could have been happier having never finished that high up in the event. However.. as soon as I saw the results I wasn't happy.. the swim could have been a minute quicker, I think I can go 2 minutes faster on the bike when on form and the run could be 1-2 minutes quicker.. and there lies the problem.. I'm never happy.

It should work along the following lines.. I dedicate hours of my life to training and sacrifice a great deal of pain and sweat, I finish a race in the highest position I've ever managed and this is followed by unrivalled satisfaction which makes all the effort worth while.. not so.

I've coached several people to Ironman pbs and their response when I speak to them after the event? I can go much quicker.. I think the bike was too slow.. etc. If you dedicate a large amount of time to training, at some point it is balanced by the satisfaction of performance.. otherwise how long can motivation last?

In the tri world where all your peers are doing the same as you, it's easy to lose touch with normality and realise that what we all do is something special and a sense of achievement and satisfaction should be the reward after every event. If you think that your Ironman time is nothing to brag about.. you're spending too much time with triathletes and not enough time with normal people!! When you hit a target, enjoy it.. rather than instantly brushing it aside and not even recognising it's existence!

Anyway.. I still think I can find 4 minutes next year.. but I'll just relax for a minute today and enjoy yesterday's result.

Thanks to the guys at Chester Tri for yet another exceptional NW Olympic championships, next stop Boundary Breeze - NW Sprint organised by Manchester Tri.. another great race!

Here endeth theenduranceblog..

Focus Daniel son..

I remember someone telling me about oxford and cambridge competing in the boat race a few years back.. I have no idea who were the favourites but I remember that the underdogs set out to row as close to the favourites as possible and clash oars.. they did this within the first mile and repeatedly continued.. as a result the favourites lost focus and lost the race.

It's interesting that both teams clashed oars yet one lost the plot and the other went on to win.. the reason for this is that for one team is was their game plan, so their race went to plan and they remained focused on their own actions. For the losers (who were the favourites), they did not expect this at all and they spent most of the time focused on what the other team were doing..

This is a perfect example of open water swimming success.. if people bump into you and you switch your attention to them.. or the choppy water, or any one of the other swimmers.. you are not focusing on yoruself! Block everyone else out and focus internally.. pick 2 things which you need to do well.. keep your head down and keep your body long. Focus internally on those 2 things and ignore your surroundings..

Research has shown that elite athletes tend to focus internally rather than externally and we can all learn something from that!

Here endeth theenduranceblog..