My last blog post was an astonishing 6 months ago, when I'd just finished an amazing month long training camp in the Swiss Alps. In the interlude between my linguistic masterpieces, my Triathlon career has been on a fairly lumpy roller-coaster. I've had some great highs, but also my fair share of lows over the winter months. In this blog I'll go through everything that has happened since that magical summer training camp: Injury, moving to University, great blocks of training, more injury, cross country races and as always, my future plans.
End of 2017
My 2017 season ended in the worst way possible. I had to pull out of my last scheduled Triathlon (Castle Series) due to a recurring running injury. The feeling of severe frustration was exacerbated by the fact that my swimming and cycling form was the best it had ever been. I was looking forward to a final hit out, in a competitive race, to end the season knowing I had progressed well. Instead, 2017 closed out with a bitter taste in my mouth; I was injured and I hadn't been able to show the fitness I knew I had. It took a while to get my head back in the game and to stop feeling sorry for myself. A bit of reflection time was in order. Fortunately, I was moving to uni the next week which provided the perfect opportunity to press the reset button.
UNIVERSITY
I started at the University of Nottingham, studying Economics and Maths in October. Nottingham is a great place to train, being near the Peak district provides some epic rides, there are ample places for running sessions, a local 1 mile closed road cycle circuit and some decent pools. I would struggle to imagine a better set up. Balancing training/studying/social is difficult, but hasn't been much different to the demands I encountered in school. All in all, I'm very happy with my new surroundings and I'm looking forward to the next 3 years based out of Notts.
INJURY
As I previously discussed, I finished 2017 injured. This was a suspected lower leg stress fracture and it finally cleared up by late November. In the mean time, I'd been consistently training my bike and swim and was starting to feel stronger again. In December my running volume and intensity progressively increased and then one day in early January I went for an evening 45 minute jog. Upon my return home, I was immediately struck by an intense ache in my left hip. A little niggle, a tight hip flexor perhaps? I didn't think much of it and over the next few days the pain gradually subsided. Later in the week I did a couple of run sessions and it flared up again. Out of fear of creating a bigger problem I stayed off the running for a week and half and then went for a couple of easy jogs at the end of January/ start of February. In the meantime I had, as always, been pushing the bike and swim. The 3rd February was the BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) cross country championships. I desperately wanted to do this race as it was going to be the most competitive cross country race I had ever done. Being a first year I was also interested in how I would stack up against the other. I did this race, *report down below* but my hip flared up AGAIN. More rest and 3 weeks later I'm sat here after just racing the National Cross Country Champs and It now feels back to 100%. So, fingers crossed that's the only injury I will have in 2018.
RACE REPORTS
I have done 2 cross country races which I will report on, BUCS xc and National XC. Both off next to 0 running training. So whilst I was lacking running muscular conditioning, I still had decent transferable fitness levels from cycling and swimming.
BUCS XC has a mens A and B race, 10k and 8k long respectively. I was racing in the A's. This year the event was hosted by Brunel University so in order to avoid a long drive on race day we went down the day before and stayed nearby. The course had a huge variety of terrain, steep gravel climbs, flat fields, water jumps and a shed-load of mud. I had no idea where my running form was, and with BUCS being a very competitive race, saying I was apprehensive would've been an understatement. The gun went and 350 athletes sprinted round a muddy field on a typically rainy, British winter day. I had a decent start, apart from a couple of trips and stumbles, finding myself in around 70th position as the field began to stretch out. I was feeling reasonable but I didn't want to blow my doors off too early so a fellow Nottingham alumni and myself started to slowly work through the field. We came to the water jump the first time which was a bit sketchy but I dealt with it better than some of the guys in this video of the B race (watch it till the end!)
End of 2017
My 2017 season ended in the worst way possible. I had to pull out of my last scheduled Triathlon (Castle Series) due to a recurring running injury. The feeling of severe frustration was exacerbated by the fact that my swimming and cycling form was the best it had ever been. I was looking forward to a final hit out, in a competitive race, to end the season knowing I had progressed well. Instead, 2017 closed out with a bitter taste in my mouth; I was injured and I hadn't been able to show the fitness I knew I had. It took a while to get my head back in the game and to stop feeling sorry for myself. A bit of reflection time was in order. Fortunately, I was moving to uni the next week which provided the perfect opportunity to press the reset button.
UNIVERSITY
I started at the University of Nottingham, studying Economics and Maths in October. Nottingham is a great place to train, being near the Peak district provides some epic rides, there are ample places for running sessions, a local 1 mile closed road cycle circuit and some decent pools. I would struggle to imagine a better set up. Balancing training/studying/social is difficult, but hasn't been much different to the demands I encountered in school. All in all, I'm very happy with my new surroundings and I'm looking forward to the next 3 years based out of Notts.
INJURY
As I previously discussed, I finished 2017 injured. This was a suspected lower leg stress fracture and it finally cleared up by late November. In the mean time, I'd been consistently training my bike and swim and was starting to feel stronger again. In December my running volume and intensity progressively increased and then one day in early January I went for an evening 45 minute jog. Upon my return home, I was immediately struck by an intense ache in my left hip. A little niggle, a tight hip flexor perhaps? I didn't think much of it and over the next few days the pain gradually subsided. Later in the week I did a couple of run sessions and it flared up again. Out of fear of creating a bigger problem I stayed off the running for a week and half and then went for a couple of easy jogs at the end of January/ start of February. In the meantime I had, as always, been pushing the bike and swim. The 3rd February was the BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) cross country championships. I desperately wanted to do this race as it was going to be the most competitive cross country race I had ever done. Being a first year I was also interested in how I would stack up against the other. I did this race, *report down below* but my hip flared up AGAIN. More rest and 3 weeks later I'm sat here after just racing the National Cross Country Champs and It now feels back to 100%. So, fingers crossed that's the only injury I will have in 2018.
RACE REPORTS
I have done 2 cross country races which I will report on, BUCS xc and National XC. Both off next to 0 running training. So whilst I was lacking running muscular conditioning, I still had decent transferable fitness levels from cycling and swimming.
BUCS XC has a mens A and B race, 10k and 8k long respectively. I was racing in the A's. This year the event was hosted by Brunel University so in order to avoid a long drive on race day we went down the day before and stayed nearby. The course had a huge variety of terrain, steep gravel climbs, flat fields, water jumps and a shed-load of mud. I had no idea where my running form was, and with BUCS being a very competitive race, saying I was apprehensive would've been an understatement. The gun went and 350 athletes sprinted round a muddy field on a typically rainy, British winter day. I had a decent start, apart from a couple of trips and stumbles, finding myself in around 70th position as the field began to stretch out. I was feeling reasonable but I didn't want to blow my doors off too early so a fellow Nottingham alumni and myself started to slowly work through the field. We came to the water jump the first time which was a bit sketchy but I dealt with it better than some of the guys in this video of the B race (watch it till the end!)
I carried on working through the field and picked up my pace on the second lap as I was still feeling good. Well, as 'good' as you can feel when very close to your limit! With 1 mile to go, I found myself in a group of 6 guys. By this point my legs were quite beat up and I knew I wan't going to be able to have much of a sprint. I don't know how I rationalised it in my mind but I consequently decided it would be a great idea to kick from the group and go for a long range attack to ensure I beat the guys nearby. A decision I began to regret 600m from the finish when the final section of deep mud sucked all my momentum and enabled the others to reestablish contact. Once we had cleared the sticky brown stuff all that was left was a 250m grass straight to the line. I tried to sprint but my legs weren't too keen on the idea. Fortunately, the other runners near me were equally knackered and we just filtered through the finish line. I came through in 40th, and was the highest placed Notts athlete. A result I was very happy with, considering I'm a first year and hadn't done any proper running for quite some time.
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After BUCS my hip flared up once again but I was patient and it cleared up before the National Cross Country Champs on the 24th Feb. A race which I love and this year it was on my favorite cross country course.... the beast that is Parliament Hill. The route is 10k long and characterised by continuous short steep climbs, (and of course, descents) renowned for some of the worst mud after heavy rain. On race day it was cold so the ground had hardened somewhat, little did the heath know, thousands of runners were about to change that. When it was time for my race (Junior men) 6 waves of younger age groups had already taken to the Heath, trampling and churning up the course, leaving it suitably slippery. I lined up alongside my fellow Wycombe Phoenix teammates and eagerly anticipated the gun to initiate this epic race. The start is a 500m straight, up a climb which is increasingly steeper as you progress up it. It certainly shocks your system and tells your body to switch into race mode. All the descents had deep mud which literally absorbs all your energy with every foot strike. As a result there was nowhere to rest as even on the downhill you have to forcefully drive your legs to keep moving. By the halfway point I was hanging. Badly. My legs had no power left and each uphill became an ascent of Everest. I pushed to my limit and managed to hold onto my position to the line despite someone else's best efforts on the finish straight. I came across in 16th place which, for the National Champs, is a very solid result.
Cross country season is now over for me. Next on my agenda is a long Easter training camp in Cyprus to put some very hard work in ahead of my first Triathlon of the year. A big shout out to my coach, Perry Agass (TriSutto) for helping me through these recent injury riddled times. I must also thank my supportersETE (Highly recommend you check them out if you fancy a training camp!) and of course Pedal Potential who enable a huge roster of young athletes do what we do!
Thanks for checking out my blog- come back in a months time for some more bedtime reading!
Cross country season is now over for me. Next on my agenda is a long Easter training camp in Cyprus to put some very hard work in ahead of my first Triathlon of the year. A big shout out to my coach, Perry Agass (TriSutto) for helping me through these recent injury riddled times. I must also thank my supportersETE (Highly recommend you check them out if you fancy a training camp!) and of course Pedal Potential who enable a huge roster of young athletes do what we do!
Thanks for checking out my blog- come back in a months time for some more bedtime reading!
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