After my success at the Lincsquad/Keyo Brigg Sprint triathlon I had no time to celebrate as it was back into hard training for Cleethorpes 10k on New Year’s Day.
On the back of this success I was contacted by Andrew Coulson offering sports massages for a year. I have attended a few sessions with him and would defiately recommend him to anyone who needs his services. From these sessions it has helped reduce muscle soreness and maintain optimal body conditions reducing the risk of injury.
After years of using Rusty’s cycles for bikes and other equipment they are looking into providing sponsorship along with their contacts of Scott/Forme with having both bikes on demonstration to me.
Up until Brigg sprint triathlon I was doing 25 miles a week of running with 3 or 4 biking sets and 3 sessions in the pool. To concentrate on Cleethorpes my training regime needed to change meaning my new program was 40 miles a week of running involving a 10 mile long run, 2/3 speed sessions and a steady paced run. In the first 5/6 weeks of training I felt like I was going backwards, each run felt worse and worse. Training meant getting up before college to do a session/ long run as well as running in the elements at night. At this point I was wondering if all this mileage was worth the suffering but I had to stay focused on the bigger picture. It wasn’t until December when the training came into fruition after doing the Hull 5k park run in 17:13 psychologically this was a turning point for me.
The start of the race drew closer and I was stood 2nd wave in, I wanted to be as close to the front as I could, when the sound of the gun went I had to push my way through to the front of the pack as I knew this was crucial to my race plan. I personally felt the first couple of miles could have been faster but I was unsure whether I would have enough left to give in the second part of the race. My Garmin reassured me when I reached 5k and I saw 16:40 at this point I knew I was on for a good time. The 4/5 mile was down what seemed to be the longest road in history with a strong head/ side wind meaning it was harder to hold the pace but I knew when I reached the left turning it was going to be back wind all the way to the finish line. As soon as I turned the corner I knew the end was near I gave it everything I had driving to the finishing line. It was a good feeling to hear the Lincsquad/ Barton AC supporters cheering me home. I stopped my Garmin at the end of the race to see 34.29 shown I couldn’t believe that I had reached my goal which I had set out to achieve all the hard work and pain had been worth it. When the results were released I was pleased to see I had finished 5th and exceeded my expectations with a time of 34:29 and a new PB.
Great start to 2014 now focusing my aims back onto triathlons and more hard training to become the best!
Josh