Iceman Duathlon 2014

After a December that involved little training and a bit too much alcohol, I entered January with what felt like very little in the way of fitness. I had run an average amount throughout December, of around 20 miles per week, but with only one of two faster sessions. Come January, I was ready to pick training up and immediately set about increasing my weekly mileage for running, cycling and swimming.

I raced the Hell Down South in early January and set about it in the usual fashion, expecting to be near the front, only this time with no idea of what my run speed was like. I lead for the first few miles but then took a tumble on a steep downhill, dropping to second and then to third by the halfway point. I did not know that my knee was cut quite deeply and continued on oblivious. By mile eight, of the 11 miles, I had worked hard on some steep climbs and had moved back into the lead, as we approached the infamous ‘Bog of Doom’. As soon as I entered the deep, cold water my calf muscles locked and I was unable to move for the cramp. I dropped to third again, thankfully several minutes ahead of fourth place. After a couple of minutes I was able to swim across, cheered on by the fairly large crowd. I hobbled to the finish, fairly pleased to have held onto third place. Fitness levels remained unknown.

In the second week of January I headed out to the Algarve to meet up with the Tri Training Harder Race Team. Elloise, Elysia, Jenny, Danny, Nick, Jason, Harry and I joined the staff team including the Directors Chantal, Philip and Fiona for a fantastic weekend of getting to know each other, training and exploring. Tim Butt also came along for the trip.

Despite a few showers, we managed some decent rides into the surrounding hills, had a pool swim session, sea swim, surf, track session, relay on the cross-country course and a great meal out. We managed to fit a lot into only a few days and it was painful to leave Danny, Nick and Elysia to continue their training as I returned to the UK. I will return for a holiday at the TTH base in April as part of my preparation for my summer races.

A few days later and I was heading to Frimley in Surrey to tackle the Iceman Duathlon, run by Human Race. I entered late as I was unsure of entering an off-road duathlon given how little I ride my MTB. The race would involve a 10km run, 18km cycle and 5km run, all off-road on fairly muddy and steep trails. I had not intended to start fast but OI felt nice and comfortable and so tackled the first few steep climbs eagerly. I had no idea of the lead I was building on those behind but I knew that I needed a gap heading onto the cycle. Three minutes was a nice gap after the 10km, but I had no idea.

The cycle was slippy and fairly technical. I fell within about two minutes of getting on the bike but ignored that. I pushed hard, hitting a slower patch at around 10km but then picking it up again as I started lapping people. With 200 metres to go one of the series leaders caught me, but I was not at all worried. I was confident of the win by then.

400 metres into the run and I was back in the lead. I didn’t look back again, powering up the climbs and leaving enough for a sprint finish. Turns out my fitness levels are still okay and this was the best I had felt since August, which was nice.