Challenge Weymouth

Preparation for this event started back in July after Ironman UK. I went on holiday for a week first of all to Turkey and then when I came back I felt fresh and ready to get back into training. I took the first week pretty steady and then went back into the same training program I did in the lead up to Ironman UK.

I managed to get some really consistent training in, one strange thing which happened was I changed the batteries in my power tap which seemed to somehow make it under read. At the time I didn’t realise and just thought that I had lost quite a bit of fitness from taking a holiday and an easy week so in my interval sessions I was burying myself trying to get them watts back thinking that I’m not going that great. This changed when I did a time trial on a local course and managed to break my course record and record my fastest time of the year by 25 seconds on the course. I have since brought some Vectors and compared he power tap with other people and that’s how I realised this. It worked out well though as I gained a good 15 watts on my threshold, although I was cursing it at the time as some of the sessions really weren’t pleasant!

One good session I did in the build up to Weymouth was a 75 mile ride down to a running race, luckily it was a lovely sunny day, the bad news was we had to leave at 6.30am in the morning and it was a head wind all the way there. The ride was done at target Ironman power 290-300w except when we went through the big towns (Ipswich and Colchester) where we just took it easy. It ended up taking 3h 20. We got to the race with 5 minutes to spare so it was a case of just quickly getting changed, going to the loo and then lining u for the running race. I managed to come 2nd in the 10 mile race running an average pace of 5m 32s per mile. A good session and the pub lunch after was very welcome! Also want to say thanks to my training mates Jay Lingwood, and Paul Hayward who joined me for the whole thing and Lee Cook and Reeve who also joined in for the ride. It makes such a big difference when you know there are a group of others that are crazy enough to get up at 5.30 on a Sunday and join you.

The following week I did the Rubicon middle distance where the plan was to have a good hit out but not kill myself, I went into the race without tapering as the plan was to start easing it down after the race which would leave me with 2 weeks to then freshen up and hit top form at Weymouth.

The race report for the Rubicon can be found here: Rubicon Middle Distance 2014 Race Report

The race report for the Rubicon can be found here: Challenge Weymouth 2014 Race Report

The next day I visited a special school, here’s a little bit about it and a few pics: Ironman Joe visits Westfield

Here’s a radio interview where I talk about training, nutrition and the race itself:

And finally a group interview with Joel and Steven which was quite fun and had a bit of banter!

Since Weymouth:

It’s not all been about putting my feet up as I have Barcelona in 12 days time. I’ve actually been feeling very good in training and since Weymouth it appears my cycling and running has actually had a jump in fitness and I am pushing higher power figures in training then before Weymouth by around 10w and I am running faster so all being well in Barcelona I hope to be able to race much faster and I’ll be going there with full intentions of winning! If anyone else is racing Barcelona or if you want to race Barcelona there are still entries available and you can take the hassle of flying with a bike away by getting RaceForce limited to take it as they are driving out there.

Just before I go I want to say thanks to my sponsors, Mail Big File, Pedal Revolution, Tri Sports Lanzarote, Functional Fitness, Huub, and Clif bar and also to Jenny and Bob for letting me stay with them in Weymouth and my family and Laura for supporting me on the day and helping me, also to Ollie Mathews a nutritionist who has been helping me out over the last 5 weeks, I’m delighted by he gains I’ve had already. Loosing over a kilo while eating like a horse and having lots of energy!

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