Bits and Bobs

Well, I thought it must be time for a bit of an update as to how things are going over the winter. The winter time is traditionally supposed to be just spent doing the miles and building up the endurance so that, come early next year, you can start working on the speed side of things again and spend less time on endurance type stuff.

Thankfully, a small group of us triathletes have started to get together at the weekend and we are doing a long ride on the Saturday (~100k) followed by a 10k run when we get back - this can be quite painful as the legs are just so used to spinning around. Then, come Sunday, the plan is to do a longish run (10-20k) followed by a 4k swim set. Things are goinbg pretty well with this, although I have not been running too much, but the group seems to have been formed so we should be all setup for a nice winter long effort.

Other than this, I am in the process of changing a lot of things about where I train and who I race for. I am no longer going to be swimming with Swim for Tri on Thursdays as I have joined Wandsorth Swimming Club where I am trying to get to 3 times a week. They are a proper swim club though and they have a really good coach who seems to have a clear goal for how we should be training to work up to a good performace come race season starting in April. It may also mean that I actually compete in some galas...the last time I attended a gala, I think I must have been about 10 or 11.

I have also decided to join a triathlon specific club as well. The Thames Turbos are a pretty well renowned club in the triathlon world. They have had a whole host of champions who have been through the club, including the current world champ, Tim Don. I am still going to be racing for the Serpentines though, but I am only going to be running for them now...it is hard to beat the support you can get as a Serpentine runner when you do a running race..the biggest club in the UK pretty much always ensures that you have good level of support along the route.

The final thing is that I am currently in the process of trying to secure some form of sponsoship for the coming race season. I have written to a couple of companies already and am pleased to say that I am now sponsored by a company which makes recovery milkshakes. I first came into contact with For Goodness Shakes as they were given out after a race..they are pretty good though so I thought it would be worth writing to them.
I am also due to have a meeting with another company before Christmas - they are in the physio and massage business so it could be a winner if I can get them to do some kind of deal.