After winning the Bideford Tri
BUCS Duathlon, feeling good on the bike
Thursday, 12 December 2013
Some pictures from this year....
BUCS Duathlon, feeling good on the bike
Saturday, 7 December 2013
Season Overview...
Now that I have completed my first season of racing I thought it might be useful for myself to do a bit of an overview and sum up how I felt it went in order to be able to assess my goals for next season. I originally was just going to race a couple of triathlons this year, just for fun and to see how I could get on. This reflected in my training prior to the season which involved very little. I was probably running once a week maximum and riding my bike for 30-40 miles a week. I was swimming sporadically and had no plan at all. I knew that I was generally relatively fit from a winter of surfing at least 5 or 6 times a week, and I knew that I was able to ride my bike to a reasonable standard.
In April I started racing a few of the local North Devon Wheelers evening 10 mile time trials, and although my times were pretty terrible to start with (around 26 minutes!) I was really enjoying the racing. After a month or so I was really starting to knock decent amounts of time off each week and was feeling better and better with it. I was lucky enough to be leant a colleagues TT bike to race one week and it felt amazing. As I was really enjoying it and knew that id be racing all season, and doing a few tris I ended up purchasing a time trial bike for myself. By this point I was starting to feel pretty good on the bike, and had got down to sub 23 minutes so I entered a few races for the season.
The first multisport race of the season was at the end of May at Marazion in Cornwall. It was scheduled to be an Olympic distance tri but unfortunately the water temperature was too cold for BTF regs, so the decision was made to make it a duathlon. I was feeling generally fit going into it, but I really surprised myself and finished fourth, which I was super pleased with considering the first couple of guys are both regular Super Series competitors who have a hell of a lot more experience and training behind them than myself. I was most surprised with my run which I assumed would really let me down, but I only ended up losing out on one place on the 11km run. I came out of it feeling really good, and my confidence was sky high.
The next race was on the 2nd of June, and was a sprint distance, pool based triathlon at Taunton in Somerset. The standard of racing was nowhere near as high as at Marazion and I ended up winning by a clear 4 minutes in a time of 57.18. I was pleased with my splits, and it was nice to get a win in only my second ever multisport race.
I raced next at Falmouth in Cornwall, and this was a sprint distance open water swim in the sea off Gyllngvase beach in Falmouth. It was my first open water swim of the season, and although I surf a lot at home and am very comfortable in the sea, I had a terrible swim. I got stuck in a really bad position in a very large group, and was getting pummelled from every direction! I ended up swallowing a lot of seawater and coming out of the water feeling horrendous. This coupled with the 7am start didn't do great things for my digestive system and I ended up being sick 3 or 4 times off my bike over the duration of the cycle course. Despite this somehow id managed to get myself up into the top 5. I got off the bike feeling terrible and had my Dad and Brothers not been there, cheering me on I would seriously have considering dropping out. I carried on and lost one or two places on the run, but considering how terrible I felt throughout the race I was pleased with 6th overall. Again the standard of racing was pretty high so I was surprised at how high my finish position actually was.
The next race was something a bit different and something that I had stupidly signed up for well in advance. It was an off road, extremely hilly marathon in North Devon where I live. I was supposed to be doing it with my brother for a bit of fun, but unfortunately he had broken his collar bone the weekend before racing his mountain bike. This meant that I had to give it my best shot, as opposed to just getting round it for fun. The furthest I had ran in training was 16miles and that was on the flat so it really came as a shock to the system. I was feeling really good over the first half and after about 8 miles was in 4th position out of a couple of hundred, and feeling strong. I ended up inadvertently taking a wrong turn and ended up running an extra half a mile and losing about 8 or 10 minutes of time as I tried to find the route again. This was so frustrating as I had lost a lot of places, but it also spurred me on to try and regain positions. I completed the first, less hilly half in about 1hour 40, and was still feeing good going into the second half. It really started ramping up and the elevation was pretty ridiculous but overall I really enjoyed it up until about 23 miles, where I just wanted to drop dead! I completed it in 3.48 which was good enough for 8th place and about 30 minutes off the race winner.
I raced the following weekend at the Roseland Triathlon in Cornwall. I wont say too much about this one as I'm still a bit bitter about it, but basically I finished in 3rd place (which I wasn't particularly pleased with anyway!) but was disqualified for apparently running a red light. It was a shame because it was an awesome location for a race, and I really enjoyed it but the organisation was terrible, and they took the word of another competitor over mine, and didn't even consult me about the incident until after the awards ceremony when the BTF ref had already gone home!
After this I took my van to France for a month and surfed a lot, ran a lot, and ate a lot of good food. I came home feeling super refreshed and the best that I had all season.
I raced the Bideford Triathlon which is extremely local to me, and the bike route even goes past my house! I enjoyed it from start to finish and had a relatively good open water swim, coming out around about 6th or 7th I believe. I got on my bike and was feeling good, by about 3 or 4 miles I was in the lead and stringing out a decent gap. I guess the familiar roads and setting, and the glorious weather all really helped and I was absolutely loving it. I got through T2 and knew I had around about a minute lead which I held onto through to the finish. It was so nice having all of my family and friends around and although its not a large event, the whole atmosphere for me was brilliant. There's a race report from the local paper here- http://www.thisisdevon.co.uk/Improving-Wright-wins-home-turf/story-19722235-detail/story.html#axzz2mniuJKBw
Aside from time trials and a few crit races, that was the main brunt of my season. I ended up racing the BUCS (British Universities and College Sport) sprint duathlon, a couple of weekends ago for my Uni. The standard was so much higher than anything I'd raced previously and I went into it not expecting to do very well at all. I would certainly have been happy with a top 100 position out of the 481 competitors. I started pretty badly and got stuck behind a lot of people on the first 2 mile run. It didn't feel like we were going that quick and I think I was in about 50th place. Looking at splits afterwards it turns out even that far back we were running 5.15-5.20 minute miles! I got on the bike and was feeling quite good so I got spinning and it felt like I was moving up positions but it was very hard to judge. Once again I surpassed my expectations and ended up with 5th bike split of the day! I got onto the second run after another bad transition and settled into a decent rhythm. I ran a 10.50 for 2 miles which at this point of the year I was very pleased with and I ended up in 14th place overall, which frankly I couldn't believe! Considering 5 out of the top 8 finishers were from Loughborough University, Plymouth University finished 15th in the team standings, and it would have been around about 10th if Sam Parker hadn't got unlucky and been given a disqualification penalty on the bike leg.
So overall, I ended up doing so much better than I had ever expected, and off very little training. I've started training a lot more, and have been plugging away at the base miles. After Christmas I will be settling into a proper training plan to try and get myself up to speed for the season. I'm going to be in the pool lots, really trying to work on my swimming as I feel this is the area that could certainly do with improvement!
With regards to racing next year, I am going to be trying to race a lot more high key events, and will be doing a few qualifiers as well as BUCS events. I'm going to give it a proper go, with a decent winter of training and just see how I get on.
Cheerzen
In April I started racing a few of the local North Devon Wheelers evening 10 mile time trials, and although my times were pretty terrible to start with (around 26 minutes!) I was really enjoying the racing. After a month or so I was really starting to knock decent amounts of time off each week and was feeling better and better with it. I was lucky enough to be leant a colleagues TT bike to race one week and it felt amazing. As I was really enjoying it and knew that id be racing all season, and doing a few tris I ended up purchasing a time trial bike for myself. By this point I was starting to feel pretty good on the bike, and had got down to sub 23 minutes so I entered a few races for the season.
The first multisport race of the season was at the end of May at Marazion in Cornwall. It was scheduled to be an Olympic distance tri but unfortunately the water temperature was too cold for BTF regs, so the decision was made to make it a duathlon. I was feeling generally fit going into it, but I really surprised myself and finished fourth, which I was super pleased with considering the first couple of guys are both regular Super Series competitors who have a hell of a lot more experience and training behind them than myself. I was most surprised with my run which I assumed would really let me down, but I only ended up losing out on one place on the 11km run. I came out of it feeling really good, and my confidence was sky high.
The next race was on the 2nd of June, and was a sprint distance, pool based triathlon at Taunton in Somerset. The standard of racing was nowhere near as high as at Marazion and I ended up winning by a clear 4 minutes in a time of 57.18. I was pleased with my splits, and it was nice to get a win in only my second ever multisport race.
I raced next at Falmouth in Cornwall, and this was a sprint distance open water swim in the sea off Gyllngvase beach in Falmouth. It was my first open water swim of the season, and although I surf a lot at home and am very comfortable in the sea, I had a terrible swim. I got stuck in a really bad position in a very large group, and was getting pummelled from every direction! I ended up swallowing a lot of seawater and coming out of the water feeling horrendous. This coupled with the 7am start didn't do great things for my digestive system and I ended up being sick 3 or 4 times off my bike over the duration of the cycle course. Despite this somehow id managed to get myself up into the top 5. I got off the bike feeling terrible and had my Dad and Brothers not been there, cheering me on I would seriously have considering dropping out. I carried on and lost one or two places on the run, but considering how terrible I felt throughout the race I was pleased with 6th overall. Again the standard of racing was pretty high so I was surprised at how high my finish position actually was.
The next race was something a bit different and something that I had stupidly signed up for well in advance. It was an off road, extremely hilly marathon in North Devon where I live. I was supposed to be doing it with my brother for a bit of fun, but unfortunately he had broken his collar bone the weekend before racing his mountain bike. This meant that I had to give it my best shot, as opposed to just getting round it for fun. The furthest I had ran in training was 16miles and that was on the flat so it really came as a shock to the system. I was feeling really good over the first half and after about 8 miles was in 4th position out of a couple of hundred, and feeling strong. I ended up inadvertently taking a wrong turn and ended up running an extra half a mile and losing about 8 or 10 minutes of time as I tried to find the route again. This was so frustrating as I had lost a lot of places, but it also spurred me on to try and regain positions. I completed the first, less hilly half in about 1hour 40, and was still feeing good going into the second half. It really started ramping up and the elevation was pretty ridiculous but overall I really enjoyed it up until about 23 miles, where I just wanted to drop dead! I completed it in 3.48 which was good enough for 8th place and about 30 minutes off the race winner.
I raced the following weekend at the Roseland Triathlon in Cornwall. I wont say too much about this one as I'm still a bit bitter about it, but basically I finished in 3rd place (which I wasn't particularly pleased with anyway!) but was disqualified for apparently running a red light. It was a shame because it was an awesome location for a race, and I really enjoyed it but the organisation was terrible, and they took the word of another competitor over mine, and didn't even consult me about the incident until after the awards ceremony when the BTF ref had already gone home!
After this I took my van to France for a month and surfed a lot, ran a lot, and ate a lot of good food. I came home feeling super refreshed and the best that I had all season.
I raced the Bideford Triathlon which is extremely local to me, and the bike route even goes past my house! I enjoyed it from start to finish and had a relatively good open water swim, coming out around about 6th or 7th I believe. I got on my bike and was feeling good, by about 3 or 4 miles I was in the lead and stringing out a decent gap. I guess the familiar roads and setting, and the glorious weather all really helped and I was absolutely loving it. I got through T2 and knew I had around about a minute lead which I held onto through to the finish. It was so nice having all of my family and friends around and although its not a large event, the whole atmosphere for me was brilliant. There's a race report from the local paper here- http://www.thisisdevon.co.uk/Improving-Wright-wins-home-turf/story-19722235-detail/story.html#axzz2mniuJKBw
Aside from time trials and a few crit races, that was the main brunt of my season. I ended up racing the BUCS (British Universities and College Sport) sprint duathlon, a couple of weekends ago for my Uni. The standard was so much higher than anything I'd raced previously and I went into it not expecting to do very well at all. I would certainly have been happy with a top 100 position out of the 481 competitors. I started pretty badly and got stuck behind a lot of people on the first 2 mile run. It didn't feel like we were going that quick and I think I was in about 50th place. Looking at splits afterwards it turns out even that far back we were running 5.15-5.20 minute miles! I got on the bike and was feeling quite good so I got spinning and it felt like I was moving up positions but it was very hard to judge. Once again I surpassed my expectations and ended up with 5th bike split of the day! I got onto the second run after another bad transition and settled into a decent rhythm. I ran a 10.50 for 2 miles which at this point of the year I was very pleased with and I ended up in 14th place overall, which frankly I couldn't believe! Considering 5 out of the top 8 finishers were from Loughborough University, Plymouth University finished 15th in the team standings, and it would have been around about 10th if Sam Parker hadn't got unlucky and been given a disqualification penalty on the bike leg.
So overall, I ended up doing so much better than I had ever expected, and off very little training. I've started training a lot more, and have been plugging away at the base miles. After Christmas I will be settling into a proper training plan to try and get myself up to speed for the season. I'm going to be in the pool lots, really trying to work on my swimming as I feel this is the area that could certainly do with improvement!
With regards to racing next year, I am going to be trying to race a lot more high key events, and will be doing a few qualifiers as well as BUCS events. I'm going to give it a proper go, with a decent winter of training and just see how I get on.
Cheerzen
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)