Sunday 24 February 2013

Chilly Duathlon February 2013

Well, the DB Max "Chilly Duathlon" should probably be renamed the "Snowy" Duathlon after today's shinanagins. 12.15pm, -2 and Arctic winds, a fine day for running around Chippenham in our swimsuits...

Goooo! 

I travelled to the event with the Bath University Triathlon Club, when we arrived at 10.15 to falling snow there was no immediate rush to leave the warmth of the coach, register and set up transition. The great thing about the DB Max races is they run the duathlon in November, then this one in February on exactly the same course so - taking the conditions into account - you can compare your times pretty neatly.

My first run at BUCS was 10.59, today I ran 11.27 - felt strong so I was surprised, bike was seemingly worse but then again so were the conditions but was very pleased with some consistent bike splits, and the last run was sub 30 longer than my first - which was a significant improvement from BUCS. Overall I found my times disappointing - it had been a long 21hr training week and, the conditions were bleak to say the least. I was however proud as punch to post the second fastest T2 time, after race winner and fellow TTS buddy Alex Matchett.

proud of my 2nd fastest T2!
Down the finishing straight to finish first


Great performance put in by the University team - 2nd overall which was fantastic, with Chris Silver finishing 4th and Brian Glynn overall 6th. The Triathlon Shop - Bristol didn't do too bad either (!), taking overall first male and female spots, 1st Team and fastest bike split.

Throughout the week there had been a few bets it seems, appearing from colleagues at work (The Triathlon Shop) between myself and bike fitter/time triallist Chris Newman (though I still help a couple of minutes over his runs - he put in the fastest bike of the day...by 30seconds...) and some DB Max guys between me and the eventual second place over twitter. So what should have been a nice relaxed race, turned into the be all or end all of the 2013 season kick off...

Still reeling from the fact this guy beat me...

But... may the best one win
Bit of a break now - last 12 week stint is underway of winter training - next race will be BUCS Sprint Triathlon Championships on the 5th of May in Calne, Wiltshire. In the meantime, you can follow updates of my training and progress through my twitter feed @KatieJSynge

Keep training! X

Friday 22 February 2013

On the home straight...

January has been a tough month....the 12 week block of training since the end of the 2012 season is over, the excitement of Christmas has passed, then there's another 12 weeks to go from February - April. January's just stuck in the middle, presenting training challenges with ice, freezing winds and dark starts and finishes to the day.

Getting in the km's in the 50m pool in Bath, currently doing 13 swim sessions a fortnight...hopefully it will be worth it!


Race season is not far away...so make the most of the intense training time we have left!
However, we're now into February, and although the weather remains bleak, there is a light on the horizon of a little race this Sunday, the third year running - the DB Max Chilly Duathlon (it's all in the name!). Mentally, this small local race poses such a break-up for training and has kick started the last 12 week block. 

So if your struggling with motivation to get through the last part of winter, enter a duathlon, or run or bike race, to remind you why you do the sport, and why the winter training will SO be worth it come May! Watch some YouTube videos, remind yourself what transitions are and get out when the suns shining.

I'll post an update after race day!

@KatieJSynge : Twitter