Team WhittleFit racing roundup - 21st & 22nd May 2016

Lots of triathlon racing and cycling going on this past weekend, congratulations to everyone that took part, the highlights are:

• Porthcawl Olympic Distance Triathlon: Congratulations to James, Martin & Alyn (and friend of WhittleFit and recent Mallorca training camp attendee, Dave) who raced in cold conditions in Porthcawl. Dave came 4^th overall and 1^st in his age group and James (2^nd fastest bike of the day) came in 6^th overall.
• Dorney Lake Sprint Triathlon: Andrew Martin raced the Dorney Lake Sprint Triathlon which is a qualification race for the 2017 World Sprint Triathlon Champs in Mexico, so Andrew was keen to do well here. And do well he did! Andrew placed 3^rd in his age group qualifying him for next years World Champs! Well done!!!
• Velothon: Lots of WhittleFit coached triathletes did the Velothon on Sunday and thankfully the weather held off for the majority of the day, well done all, some fast times out there yesterday, very proud of you all!
• Radford Sprint Triathlon: Beth Morgan raced the Radford Sprint Triathlon yesterday and placed 4^th overall, well done Beth, great racing!  
• Grafman Middle Distance Triathlon: Tom Foster race the Grafman Middle Distance Triathlon yesterday which was also the Britsh Middle Distance Triathlon championships. Tom had a great race, placing 14^th overall and 5^th in his age group, nice work Tom!   
• Slateman Triathlon: James McNabb raced the super tough Slateman Triathlon in Snowdonia yesterday. A cold, wet day in North Wales meant tough racing conditions, but James loved every minute of it, well done James!
• Ironman Lanzarote: Friend of WhittleFit, Daz Sharpe, raced at Ironman Lanzarote on Saturday. As usual, it was hot & windy in Lanza, but Daz dug deep and managed a cracking time of 11 hours and 11 minutes, well done Daz!

Team WhittleFit racing roundup - 14th & 15th May 2016

Lots of triathlon racing again this past weekend, congratulations to everyone that swam, cycled and ran, the highlights are:

• British Triathlon Sprint Champs: Andrew Martin raced the very competitive British Champs this weekend hoping for a top 10 result. Andrew raced hard from the front, as always, and bagged a 4th place in his age group, congratulations Andrew!
• Worthing Sprint Triathlon: James Coxon raced the hilly David Lloyd Worthing Sprint Triathlon yesterday and claimed an excellent 3rd place, well done James! 
• Paradise Sprint Triathlon: good friend of WhittleFit, and recent Mallorca triathlon training camp attendee, raced his first ever triathlon this weekend, the Paradise Sprint Triathlon in Monopoli, Italy. This was an open water swim too, so it was a real baptism of fire for Carl! However, he raced really well and placed 2nd in his age group, nice work Carl! 
• Llanelli Sprint Triathlon: lots of friends of WhittleFit raced down at Llanelli this weekend, which was also the Welsh Championships, congratulations to everyone who raced; a quick shout out to Rob Jones who finished 8th overall, well done Rob! 

Ironman Mallorca 70.3 race report: Tom Foster

Coached triathlete Tom Foster raced the Ironman Mallorca 70.3 triathlon last weekend, here's what he had so say about his race! 

• First race of the season - pre-race nerves 
• How will I do? – Haven’t raced in ages
• Have I trained enough?  I said I wanted 4 hours 30 mins, I’m not sure I am in the form for that.

First up, I love Mallorca; I have been 4 times in the last 2 years, raced 3 times and a training camp earlier this year. It is cycling/triathlon Mecca (of Europe) with that the Ironman 70.3 in Allcudia is very popular and it’s easy to see why: well organised, great location, not that far from the UK and good weather (more about that later). The problem with all these great features is that it fills up really quickly, so you enter back in October because it will sell out otherwise.

My prep for Mallorca started with me attending the WhittleFit training camp (not coached!) we did a lot of sim-bike-run over the course of a week, I think I totalled 35h+ of training in all. Safe to say I was pretty tired afterwards! All the same, a great week, with a really solid group of people. During the camp I did one specific day of training focused on the 70.3 where we rode the bike course at steady speed – other than the last 35-40km that turned into a 4 up TTT, then ran off the bike. We also had one day of truly bad weather, torrential rain and cold, good prep for what was to come as it turned out!

Coming home from the camp I continued to work hard up to the taper. This is when doubts about my form started to creep in, I knew I was fit, but I hadn’t raced anything since October! And every session felt like a beasting. I was doing sessions where I should have been riding at my 70.3 wattage but struggling to hold the power for 30 min. Was I out of shape? Had I over done it on the camp? Was I ill?

I was into the taper by now so I just had to go with it, follow the plan – the plan worked. I had a couple of easy days, and then returned so some more intensity. Like someone had flicked a switch I was able to hold my watts easily, my running started feeling effortless.

Team WhittleFit racing roundup - 7th & 8th May 2016

There was so much racing this weekend from WhittleFit athletes, here are some of the highlights: 

• Ironman Mallorca 70.3: lots of WhittleFit and CrapTri athletes racing here on Saturday. Poor conditions meant for tough racing, so congratulations to everyone for getting through it. Highlights include lots of personal bests, a couple of DNF's and a 5th place finish for Tom Foster. 
• Carten: the annual Cardiff to Tenby ride is renowned for having terrible weather conditions but this year was an exception and the riders had a tailwind for the majority of the 100 mile ride. Like the Mallorca race, there are too many WhittleFit athletes to mention individually, but well done to everyone. On the right you'll find a great shot of the finishers enjoying well deserved beer or two! 
• Tewkesbury Triathlon: husband and wife, Andrew and Angela Martin, took part in this sprint race on Sunday, both doing amazingly well with Andrew coming 2nd overall and Angela coming 6th in her age group! 
• Freak Events Duathlon: Bethan Morgan raced the unusual duathlon distance of 5k run, 45k bike, 5k run, 45k bike & 5k run this weekend, sounds like an interesting race!
• Blaenavon Triathlon: friend of WhittleFit and recent Mallorca triathlon training camp attendee, James Elgar won the notoriously tough Blaenavon Triathlon this weekend, well done James, must have been all those Mallorcan hills you did!