With only a week and a bit to go before I jet off to Mexico I thought I better get some blog writing under my belt! First up is the Monster Ely Olympic Triathlon then the National Triathlon Relays. Hopefully next week I'll be able to squeeze another one in before I fly out!
Name: Monster Ely Olympic Triathlon
Date: Sunday 21st August 2016
Venue: Ely, Cambridgeshire
Distances: Swim: 1500m, Bike: 44km, Run: 12km
A few weeks ago I stepped up to an Olympic distance triathlon! My coaches Dermott and Ray had both said it would be interesting to see how I faired at a longer distance. Ray, being my swim coach, was particularly interested to see if I could hold a 750m swim pace for twice the distance. I had no idea how my body would hold up but with a month before Mexico we thought this race would be a good time to give it a go.
The morning was dull. Very windy and a bit wet. We had driven the course the night before and knew the wind would be very strong in places as the course was very exposed. My first priority was the swim. My aim was to do sub 20mins and be first out to give myself the best chance at potentially winning the race. I started off hard and pushed it all the way down the river (which was flowing against us) until the turn point where we came back down for another 200m to finish off the swim. I exited in 20.01 (including a little run) so I was super happy! I had succeeded and done exactly what Ray believed I could do. His swim coaching and analysis in the endless pool has been key to improving my swim and turning it from my weakest discipline to being very strong and making me really enjoy swimming!
I had a quick T1 and set out on the bike in the lead. I was in front by about 2mins putting a huge gap between myself and 2nd from the swim. I lead for around 10km and was then overtaken. There was no point wasting energy keeping up with this guy so I kept my tempo the same as it was and kept it steady making sure I didn't blow up. After the first 20km I could feel the pain, but I had to keep going and with 6km left it was mostly downhill with the wind. Pushing 50kmh I gave it everything I had arriving in T2 in 4th place. My dad said 3rd was 1min ahead so I got my head down and ran. I was caught pretty quickly but stayed with this guy and we both soon overtook 3rd. I stayed in 4th but after 8km I was starting to feel the past 2hours of racing in my legs. I've never raced for more than an hour and a bit before so my legs were crumbling beneath me. I defended my 4th place overall and my 1st in my age group till the finishing line. I was very glad to have finished and extremely pleased to see that I'd finished 4th overall! And 1st in the U25's winning me a nice trophy and a pair of trainers courtesy of Alphawoolf! I was slightly gutted finding out I was only 28seconds off of 3rd place overall! So close! The next day I was pretty broken, but took an easy week in preparation for what was to come the next week...
Name: National triathlon Relay Championships
Date: Saturday 27th August 2016
Venue: Holme Pierrepoint, Nottingham
Distances: Swim: 500m, Bike: 15km, Run: 5km (X4)
My next race was something complelely different again. I'd been asked to join a relay team for the National Championships and was really looking forward to it! Annoyingly the BTF wanted us to pay a ridiculous amount of money to become a 'RaceTeam' to be in contention for the BTF medals as we weren't all from the same club. We decided not to do this but still race and see how we did.
The team was Angus Smith, Emily Patch and Whitney Larkin (+me). Thanks to sponsorship from Zone3, they allowed us to represent them and race as Team Zone3. In this format of relays all competitors swim, then bike, then run. Our order was as I listed above and Angus got us off to a great start putting us in the top 10. Great swims for Emily and Whitney moved us up into 5th and in my leg I managed to move us up to 3rd. On the bike Angus managed to move us into 2nd place and put in a big chunk of time between us and 3rd. Emily's bike was brilliant, but as she was racing against a guy we slipped back into 3rd place. Whitney held our third position and on my leg I kept us there too, handing over to Angus to start the run. Again he moved us up into 2nd as he was now racing against a girl. The team in 1st were way ahead as they were a team of 3 boys and 1 girl...not sure how that is fair but oh well. Emily had a super run holding 2nd place, but Whitney was up against a good runner and we were then back in 3rd. Over to me to finish it off...no pressure! I set off for the 5km run around the lake and half way through I looked behind and could see 4th right there! Oh no! Time to put the pedal down. I gave it everything I had. After almost 1km of sprinting and just a few hundred metres left behind I looked back and could not see 4th! A smile broke out and we all came down the line together to finish off a great race and a great day (despite the miserable weather)! We finished 3rd overall and 2nd in the Open Category! Wow that was awesome! 3rd in the country, not bad! Thank you so much to Angus, Emily and Whitney for inviting me to be a part of your team!
I owe a big thank you to Pedal Potential, Zone 3, Swim Canary Wharf, Sam Farmer and The Body Therapy Company for their support helping me to achieve these results! I would not be able to perform this well without their invaluable support! Many thanks to my team Max Curle, Excel Physiotherapy and my coach Dermott Hayes for everything they do to support me throughout the year to get me into this shape!
My next race will be on Sunday 4th September at the U20's Festival at Strathclyde Country Park, Scotland in the Junior Elite wave. The last race before Mexicoooo!
See you in Scotland!
Sam
Race Times (Ely Olympic Triathlon) Race Times (National Relays) - Angus/Emily/Whitney/Me
Swim: 20:01mins Swim: 6:30 / 7:34 / 7:07 / 6:57mins
T1: 0:36mins T1: 0:29mins
Bike: 1:17:40hrs Bike: 21:17 / 26:12 / 25:24 / 23:12mins
T2: 00:36mins T2: -
Run: 46:28mins Run: 17:48 / 22:40 / 21:36 / 18:23mins
Total: 2:26:17hours Total: 3:25:16hours
Name: Monster Ely Olympic Triathlon
Date: Sunday 21st August 2016
Venue: Ely, Cambridgeshire
Distances: Swim: 1500m, Bike: 44km, Run: 12km
A few weeks ago I stepped up to an Olympic distance triathlon! My coaches Dermott and Ray had both said it would be interesting to see how I faired at a longer distance. Ray, being my swim coach, was particularly interested to see if I could hold a 750m swim pace for twice the distance. I had no idea how my body would hold up but with a month before Mexico we thought this race would be a good time to give it a go.
The morning was dull. Very windy and a bit wet. We had driven the course the night before and knew the wind would be very strong in places as the course was very exposed. My first priority was the swim. My aim was to do sub 20mins and be first out to give myself the best chance at potentially winning the race. I started off hard and pushed it all the way down the river (which was flowing against us) until the turn point where we came back down for another 200m to finish off the swim. I exited in 20.01 (including a little run) so I was super happy! I had succeeded and done exactly what Ray believed I could do. His swim coaching and analysis in the endless pool has been key to improving my swim and turning it from my weakest discipline to being very strong and making me really enjoy swimming!
I had a quick T1 and set out on the bike in the lead. I was in front by about 2mins putting a huge gap between myself and 2nd from the swim. I lead for around 10km and was then overtaken. There was no point wasting energy keeping up with this guy so I kept my tempo the same as it was and kept it steady making sure I didn't blow up. After the first 20km I could feel the pain, but I had to keep going and with 6km left it was mostly downhill with the wind. Pushing 50kmh I gave it everything I had arriving in T2 in 4th place. My dad said 3rd was 1min ahead so I got my head down and ran. I was caught pretty quickly but stayed with this guy and we both soon overtook 3rd. I stayed in 4th but after 8km I was starting to feel the past 2hours of racing in my legs. I've never raced for more than an hour and a bit before so my legs were crumbling beneath me. I defended my 4th place overall and my 1st in my age group till the finishing line. I was very glad to have finished and extremely pleased to see that I'd finished 4th overall! And 1st in the U25's winning me a nice trophy and a pair of trainers courtesy of Alphawoolf! I was slightly gutted finding out I was only 28seconds off of 3rd place overall! So close! The next day I was pretty broken, but took an easy week in preparation for what was to come the next week...
Name: National triathlon Relay Championships
Date: Saturday 27th August 2016
Venue: Holme Pierrepoint, Nottingham
Distances: Swim: 500m, Bike: 15km, Run: 5km (X4)
My next race was something complelely different again. I'd been asked to join a relay team for the National Championships and was really looking forward to it! Annoyingly the BTF wanted us to pay a ridiculous amount of money to become a 'RaceTeam' to be in contention for the BTF medals as we weren't all from the same club. We decided not to do this but still race and see how we did.
The team was Angus Smith, Emily Patch and Whitney Larkin (+me). Thanks to sponsorship from Zone3, they allowed us to represent them and race as Team Zone3. In this format of relays all competitors swim, then bike, then run. Our order was as I listed above and Angus got us off to a great start putting us in the top 10. Great swims for Emily and Whitney moved us up into 5th and in my leg I managed to move us up to 3rd. On the bike Angus managed to move us into 2nd place and put in a big chunk of time between us and 3rd. Emily's bike was brilliant, but as she was racing against a guy we slipped back into 3rd place. Whitney held our third position and on my leg I kept us there too, handing over to Angus to start the run. Again he moved us up into 2nd as he was now racing against a girl. The team in 1st were way ahead as they were a team of 3 boys and 1 girl...not sure how that is fair but oh well. Emily had a super run holding 2nd place, but Whitney was up against a good runner and we were then back in 3rd. Over to me to finish it off...no pressure! I set off for the 5km run around the lake and half way through I looked behind and could see 4th right there! Oh no! Time to put the pedal down. I gave it everything I had. After almost 1km of sprinting and just a few hundred metres left behind I looked back and could not see 4th! A smile broke out and we all came down the line together to finish off a great race and a great day (despite the miserable weather)! We finished 3rd overall and 2nd in the Open Category! Wow that was awesome! 3rd in the country, not bad! Thank you so much to Angus, Emily and Whitney for inviting me to be a part of your team!
I owe a big thank you to Pedal Potential, Zone 3, Swim Canary Wharf, Sam Farmer and The Body Therapy Company for their support helping me to achieve these results! I would not be able to perform this well without their invaluable support! Many thanks to my team Max Curle, Excel Physiotherapy and my coach Dermott Hayes for everything they do to support me throughout the year to get me into this shape!
My next race will be on Sunday 4th September at the U20's Festival at Strathclyde Country Park, Scotland in the Junior Elite wave. The last race before Mexicoooo!
See you in Scotland!
Sam
Race Times (Ely Olympic Triathlon) Race Times (National Relays) - Angus/Emily/Whitney/Me
Swim: 20:01mins Swim: 6:30 / 7:34 / 7:07 / 6:57mins
T1: 0:36mins T1: 0:29mins
Bike: 1:17:40hrs Bike: 21:17 / 26:12 / 25:24 / 23:12mins
T2: 00:36mins T2: -
Run: 46:28mins Run: 17:48 / 22:40 / 21:36 / 18:23mins
Total: 2:26:17hours Total: 3:25:16hours
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