Well, how long has it been?! Ages!
Swanage triathlon back in May was my first outing of the year. Training bike and very little in the way of miles, either swimming, biking or running. Weather has been lousy for biking, I have had little time to fit in any running and I have been in a pool about a dozen times in the last 10 months. I have to say I was not at all motivated. But that aside I managed to haul myself round in a reasonable time and finished up 3rd on the day. I was hoping that would spur me on, but no, the weather continued to be rubbish and work commitments have hampered any quality and consistency in the training department. I have stayed fit and healthy but not at all race fit, far from it, as this weekend in Antwerp showed, Ironman 70.3. I had an enjoyable race, and went as hard as I could, but lack of any mileage really showed in that I just didn't have the speed. Endurance, no problem, I kept going strong to the end, but just sooooooo slow. Results here.
http://sport.be.msn.com/antwerpironman/2012/eng/uitslag/
I have done no time trialling this season and I have missed the regular Wednesday evening club 10s, 14s and 25s, which would have kept me riding at race efforts and my legs moving. I have been stuck indoors on the turbo and when I have been out I have had no more than 2 hour rides, once a fortnight. Not enough.
Running has been confined to short hard efforts with little else other than gentle jogs a with work. In other words, for me to go and challenge for top honours in my age group I need to put the work in. Antwerp has done one thing, it's made me decide to get my ass into gear and start putting some work in! I'm strong, but I need some speeeeeeed!
