Sunday 6th 2008

Today was Bounemouth Olympic Triathlon day…But the weather had other ideas!

It has been an eventful few weeks. I moved house just after my last blog, and what with that and all that goes with it life has been pretty hectic…And in the background looming over me the thought of Bournemouth Olympic triathlon.
So, whenever possible I have been trying to down tools and get out for a bit of training. It has all been a bit hit and miss, with little structure to it, but I was pleased just to get out there at all.

My swimming has been steady. Trying to get in the pool once or twice a week, and I have also been trying to do a lake swim once a week. I much prefer this to the pool, and swim so much better once I’ve got a wet suit on.
My cycling, I have been quite happy with. Commuting to work on bike twice a week keeps this ticking over, and there a few good hills on the route. At the weekends I have managed to get out for club rides. Usually about 40 miles and averaging 18-20mph depending on the route and the hills.
Running is still my weakness this year. Unusual, because it is normally my strongest discipline. I just haven’t run enough this year, and feel really sluggish when Im out.
I have only run once, sometimes twice a week, and just steady 10k distances.

So, building up to Bournemouth I was fairly philosophical about how it might go, but I was really looking forward to a RACE, at last.
Sadly , today, race day, the weather was just dreadful. The Olympic tri was shortened, the swim cancelled completely and we ended up racing a short duathlon.
5K run, 20K bike, 5K run.

Despite the conditions I really enjoyed it. Not what I had come for, and disappointing not to swim, but really good to race none-the-less. Although none of the times were especially remarkable, and not surprising as the belting rain came down horizontally, as we pedalled into a vicious head wind for half the race.
I was pleased with my result 81st overall in a time of 1hr 16mins.
My run splits were surprisingly ok, and virtually equal at 19m22s and 19m35s.
My cycle was 37mins, which in the conditions I was pretty happy with.
So, a shame not to race the whole triathlon, but great to be racing anyway, and Im now keen for more.

My eyes are on the diary, trying to plan another race, and this time I hope to make it a full triathlon!

Happy racing!

This entry was posted on Friday, July 18th, 2008 at 4:20 pm and is filed under Alex Prince, Athlete Diaries. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.