BUCS - British Universities Duathlon Championships

Sunday 21st November 2010

It's been a while since my last blog update. Now I have moved to the UK to do my MSc. Exercise Physiology at Loughborough University. The last couple of months have been quite hard to adapt back to the student life and get back to the books to study, but now am finding my rhythm.

About three weeks ago I took part in the Bosworth Duathlon where I finished 9th overall. Not such a good result considering I have won that event two years ago but a good effort to find my race fitness in preparation for the Univeristies Duathlon Championships. I have managed to train consistentaly in the following weeks averaging 10hrs a week of training. Certainly not my usual load of training but what do you expect when you are doing a Masters??? Not easy to find the time with all the reading you have to do!!!

We left Loughborough University at 8.30am, and it took us 2.5hrs to get to destination. The race consisted of 2Miles run, 10Miles bike, and 2Miles Run on a racing track at Chippenham - a flat course. Our start was due at 2.15pm. Johanna, who was racing for Chester University started at 2pm. This was her first multi sport race in the UK so we were both very excited. We started the first 2Mile run at speeds I have never experienced before. I haven't raced so short for quite a while and this was a big shock to the system. I finished the first run in 11.21, not a bad time considering the limited training I have been doing. On the bike I was expecting much better then the 23.42 split I produced. Unfortunately my bike seat went down and I couldn't push the pace as I wished, but still I managed to recover a few places. I finished my last 2mile run in 11.40 for a total time of 48.22. Overall I came 36th out of 250 starters. Johanna had a very good race. She finished 35th out of 75 starters with a time of 59mins 30sec.

As the first official race of the 2010 - 2011 season it was a reasonably good results. Hopefully I will manage to log in some good hours of training to push my performance to another level.

Back soon!

Dermot

Marazion (Hayle) Middle Distance Triathlon - 3rd Overall

Sunday 31st May was the first A-Race for me for the season. The race took place in Hayle, Cornwall in the UK. The distances where a 1.9km swim, 90km bike ride and 21.1km Run. The race started with a tough sea swim in the Atlantic Ocean. Unfortunatley the course was not very well marked, and I finished losing a lot of time trying to find my way around in the middle of nowhere. I was quite disappointed but still felt strong so that was a positive sign for the day. I came out of the sea in around 33mins. 3mins off the pace on what i had planned. The rough sea water and the pool course marking were to blame but it wasn't the time to think about that so I headed on to transition.

A quick transition saw me out around 5th / 6th place. My aim on the bike was to hit a strong pace and not losing groud in the technical parts of the course. The bike course proved a tough one. I drove the bike course with Bill on Saturday evening and I realised immediately that it was going to be pretty tough, and if not careful one risked to blow up big time on the run. After 5km into the bike ride but disk wheel decided to block. That was not a very good sign. I came off the bike, sorted out the problem the best way I could and kept on. At the first turn around on of the bike course at Lands End, I could see that I was lying in around 9th place. At the time I was feeling good, so my strategy was to stick to that pace and see what happends. On the way back the wind was blowing like hell. I tried to keep an aerodynamic position to lose the least time possible. The more miles passed the better I was feeling and on the second lap of the bike course I started coming up the field. The last 20km were pretty hard with the hills and wind, but things were looking good and by the time I hit the second transition I was in 5th Place. I covered the bike ride in around 2hrs 37mins.

I did a quick transition, took my gels and I went out at a steady pace. My target was to keep a 6.30min/mile pace. I was informed that I was lying in 5th place, but a quick pit stop saw me down in 6th place with some time to make up. I tried to keep a constant pace without wasting too much energy. After the first lap of three I was starting to feel really strong, so I thought to myself that if I want a good result it was time to press the paddle down and go for it. My 6.30mile pace proved to be somewhat hard for the type of course surface but it was a very good gauge to control my efforts. By the second lap I was in 4th place. In the last lap I gave it my best and moved into 3rd place with 3km to go.

I finished the race in an official time of 4hrs 40mins, my stopwatch says 4hrs 37mins, don't ask me how they got that time but am still pleased with it. I am very pleased with the result as the field was pretty strong with some UK Age-group long distance representatives.

A big well done goes to my two athletes Andy Lines and William Livingstone who posted in solid strong times which argues well for their Ironman commitments in a few weeks time. They are perparing for Ironman Austria and Ironman Switzerland respectively.

I would like to thank Bill and Pam for their help and care while I was in the UK, without their help I wouldn't have been able to be there racing. Also Venom Tri Club for their support, my sponsors Starbene, Diadora, Valdora, Profile-Design, Ironman Active Wear, Powercranks & the MFA Ta' Qali Swimming Pool. I would like to say thank-you to my parents and Johanna for their constant support.

Results on:
http://www.tri247.com/article_5289_The+weekend+roundup.html?region_id=&category

Next A-Race: Ironman Austria.

Train Smart!

Dermot :)

Duathlon UK win on The Hinckley Times

The Hinckley Times (A local UK newspaper) issued an article (13th November) about the Market Bosworth Duathlon I won in October. As you can see from the article above there was also a photo of the start. You can see me in the Blue Ironman cap on the left. Thanks to Bill & Pam for getting me this article!

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Another important updated is my selection together with my brother Keith for the Malta Olympic Committee Awards which are going to be held on the 7th December. This is a big achievement for us to be selected amongst all the athletes in Malta, and it is also a big achievement for Triathlon in Malta to have two athletes in the run-up for an award. Next Sunday we shall know the colour of our award - Bronze, Silver or Gold.

Will keep you posted

Dermot