Season End/Review and a Trophy

Quite a lot to catch up on a few different topics.

Trophy

Well the season is finished for me! Finished with a Pool based Sprint Distance Race last weekend that went great. Finished second in my age group! took 3 minutes off my time i did the race in, in May so I'm still getting fitter and faster which is great.

Even got a Trophy for the Age Group win (mainly because the age group winner came 2nd overall!) but I'll take it! :-) The first of many I hope!

Finally got a timed 5km below 20 minutes too! 19:17... next is the 10km below 40 minutes.

End of Season

I have decided to give myself a full two week break, no exercise at all... I thought it would have been easy but its really boring! ha ha! Although waking up on Saturday morning naturally without the alarm is great!

The reason behind the 2 week break is partly for my legs, but mainly for my mind... It got really hard to motivate myself to train during the last few weeks, maybe because the season was coming to an end but its a long journey to the Outlaw and I don't want to lose my motivation again, so I'm making the most of these two weeks!

As an end of season review... It's been a great year, I have got faster and stronger which is obviously the main goals. Highs and Lows....

The low is an obviously one... Llandudno my first and only ever DNF (Did Not Finish) the weather was atrocious and the bike didn't feel safe, so i stick by my decision to stop that race... it wasn't an "A" race so i will treat it as a lesson learnt... but i do know i want to go back and do that race again... on a good day the course looks great.... I will be back!

The Highs, well... there are quite a few... Hyde park was a great race... really enjoyed every minute of it and happy with my 2:29 finish time, the first race i think i have done where i felt good all the way through... maybe i wasn't pushing hard enough! ha ha! Also, Birmingham, mainly for the 2:20 time i finished in... felt like a huge progression from my first Olympic distance race at Trentham Gardens (11/07/10) where i finished in 2:49. A 29 minute improvement over 14 months is great... which is a 17% improvement! Onward and upwards.

But looking forwards, the speed will be doing out the window for a while... it will be all about endurance for the Ironman season... who knows what i will do after this season, I enjoy the shorter races and i want to get close to the 2:10s.. so will be back again.

So after my 2 weeks off, it will be base training until Xmas... long slow miles... bring it on...!