Another year to wait

I’ve made the decision to defer my Kona spot (again) to 2022.

As it got closer, I was dreading having to make this decision but, now I have, I know it’s definitely the right call. There is still too much uncertainty and if the race goes ahead but I can’t get there due to travel restrictions, I’d lose my qualification spot (and all the fees I’ve paid!). Having to qualify again after holding that Kona coin in my hand is something I’d struggle to come to terms with.

2020; a new challenge

Along with the rest of the world, my plans for 2020 have taken some rearranging.

The Ironman World Championships were originally postponed from October 2020 to February 2021. Those of us who had already qualified were given the option to attend the February event, or defer until October 2021. After several spreadsheets were made and many variables considered, I decided that deferring to October 2021 was the best choice for me. Which, now that the February event has subsequently been cancelled, was definitely the right call.

Argentina: a long way to go for a coin

After my less-than-ideal race in Zurich (see post here), I wanted to find another race that was held before the end of the year. It would make 2019 an extremely long season but, if I managed it well, I could maintain my fitness from Zurich. If I qualified, the only race I would have to focus on in 2020 would be Kona; I could have an extended rest into the new year and be able to fully enjoy mine and Mic’s wedding in June.

Third time’s a charm? Not always…

This will be the first of two blog posts I’m going to write in the following weeks (hopefully). Whilst I’ve been absent online for a while, the last few months have been far from quiet. I’ve decided to split my posts up, firstly to ensure you don’t get bored reading for too long, but also because each will cover an Ironman race. At the start of 2019 I hoped those two races would be Ironman Switzerland and the Ironman World Championships in Kona but, as I’m sure you’ve gathered by now, competing in Ironman doesn’t always go to plan.

Ironman Argentina 2019 pictures

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To read my blog post about the 2019 Ironman Argentina race, please click here.

Ironman Switzerland 2019 pictures

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To read my blog post about the 2019 Ironman Zurich race, please click here.

May the 4th be with you

For those of you who follow my (intermittent) blog and instagram posts, you’ll know that my goal for a while now has been to qualify and compete in the Ironman World Championships in Kona. As you can imagine (and my fiancée can attest to), this requires a lot of training; around 15-18 hours a week. My qualification race for this year is going to be in Zurich on 21st July. Around 2 months before my biggest race of the season, I have a training day I call BIG DAY. In capital letters. It’s a whole day of swimming, cycling and running, at race pace, for distances slightly shorter than the full Ironman distance. This year, BIG DAY coincided nicely with the ITU Long Distance World Championships; a race where the swimming, cycling and running distances are slightly shorter than the full Ironman distance. Should work nicely, I thought.

ITU long distance championships pictures

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To read my blog post about the ITU World Championships race, please click here.

GroHappy Sponsorship

I’m very excited to announce I’m partnering up with GroHappy, a company which helps leaders retain their employees through motivating and encouraging personal career development. GroHappy’s ethos matches strongly with my own, as they recognise the importance of making careers work for the individual. This has been so important in my own journey; I still work full time, and fitting my training around my career can often be challenging. GroHappy recognises that people have passions outside their 9 to 5 and how it is important for companies to help nurture those external ambitions to give people a more fulfilling work-life balance.

GroHappy has written a short blog post about our partnership here. If you are interested in finding out more about this brilliant company, you can visit their website: https://www.grohappy.co.uk/

In the meantime, look out for their logo on my trisuit in my upcoming race!

Zwift racing

Here’s a link to a short race analysis for the British Cycling E-Racing National Championships qualifier

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/road/article/20190224-road-The-eRacing-Championships-gets-off-the-mark-with-exciting-qualifier–race-0