Simon raced Antwerp 70.3 treating the race with a view of “dipping the toe in the water” to try out some longer distance racing. All the training for the year has been tailored around Standard distance. Simon flew around the course in a sub 4:30 (4:28) and picked up a slot for the world champs in Clearwater along the way, well done

Eleanor went to race Milton Keynes standard distance after a great race at Upton just a couple of weeks ago. A major goal for the year was to get under the 2:30 mark for this distance, which was achieved with a time of 2:28 a new pb by around 8 minutes. To top the day off this great time also placed her 3rd in her age group. Well done

Special congratulations to both Eleanor who was 2nd female and 2nd in her age group and Tamsin who was 2nd in her age group both in the Standard Distance race. Great results Ladies.

Due to my delay in updating results below is a summary of recent performances

Eleanor, had a good start to the season with Thames Turbo sprint 1 posting a pb by 3 minutes and has dabbled in a few cycling events, most notably a 50mile TT, where she was second female overall

Ellen, recently competed in the UK middle distance champs at Bala, however treating this as a training racing looking to her full distance tri. It was a good result also considering that for many of the competitors this was a major race on their calendar. What was most impressive was that Ellen posted the fastest run time of the day for females and the 22^nd fastest run time overall.

Jackie, raced Liverpool standard distance, posting a 9^th in her age and a swimming PB she is aiming for faster times over the coming months

John, after being plagued by injury for a few months, but with the help of some medical advancements in treating Achilles problems, was able to race Austria 70.3, achieving a PB and raced Royal Windsor standard distance achieving a pb of 13minutes. I think one of Johns goals for the remainder of this year is to stay injury free and be able to race fully fit.

Parys, raced her first middle distance tri in Switzerland 70.3, coming 9^th in her age. A great result for the first attempt.

Richard, also raced Austria 70.3, carrying a slight strain to the hamstring was given the all clear to race conservatively and managed to achieve a PB, narrowly missing out on sub 5hrs.

Simon, raced the Dambuster standard distance tri. A pleasing performance almost attainging a PB, with a blistering run on what is not considered to be a fast course and is looking forward to the ETU champs in Athlone. Simon also competed in the Crystal Palace sprint Tri, improving on last years time by 1 minute and coming 2nd vet.

Tamsin, raced Switzerland 70.3, coming 11^th in her age, but more importantly improved by a massive 30minutes on last year, well done.

It is always pleasing when people race to their potential, with most of the team improving at every race and showing signs of improvements for the remainder of the season.

Push it

“On the 22 May I headed down to Exmoor for the last of my season’s trail runs, half marathon distance, before getting back on to some more serious cycle training the following weekend with the 3 day Tour of Wessex – which consisted in a fairly challenging 329 miles worth of hills, although amazingly enjoyable through stunning scenery in the south west of England.  This time round I had more confidence in my ability to finish fast, so I started with the frontrunners and benefited from being able to avoid too much of a bottle neck on the very steep coastal paths.  It also enabled me to judge my position more accurately, allowing me to finish third overall, as well as first lady – though I did not get two medals”

I am truly impressed with another great performance and think that Ellen does deserve a medal for third overall too, keep up the good results and please don’t enter the same races as me!

Personally a touch of nostalgia for me as this was my first endurance event I ever participated in 10 years ago, back then not sure of what to expect. What I could not have foreseen on that day is how many endurance events I will then go on to complete or the fact that I would enjoy and love the sport so much that one day I would be coaching athletes for this same event.

Well the run was not about me. I have been inspired over the last 14weeks coaching my team as their enthusiasm and eagerness was infectious from the start and always present at every session. What makes the group special (and all Can Too groups) is that the majority of participants have never run a half marathon before, many of them were not even regular runners at the start, but more importantly each participant was driven on by a goal bigger than themselves in that they are all raising funds for Cancer research and this is their primary reason for being there. I think this is why the experience is all the more rewarding as the participants are firstly giving of themselves and the return satisfaction and fulfilment of completing the half marathon is all the more rewarding and personal

As I say the team is an inspiration to be apart of, everyone finished and ran strong the entire way around. Training for and running a half marathon is not an easy task and over the last 14 weeks we have been on highs and lows and persevered through the mental battle of endurance events, but with the support of the entire team everyone pulled through and is stronger for the experience. well done team, looking forward to the next round.

If you want to run in an event for Can Too please follow the link to Can Too

I am not sure I can better Tongy’s account of the run. My time was beyond what I had ever hoped for in terms of improvement on previous results. Thanks to Tongy’s training plan so far, I was more confident than before about my ability to sustain a certain pace. This really helped when I was lucky enough to join a group of runners following the 6.50/mile pacer and stay with them at a fairly constant pace until around the 20 mile mark, when they slowed down – slowing seemed unnecessary to me, since that was exactly the point when I had planned to stop holding anything back and give it all I had left. Knowing that I was in a position break the 3 hour mark by a good margin did a lot to spur me on at that stage, in addition to hearing Tongy on the final stretch. Whereas I managed to miss most others watching, there was no mistaking Tongy’s remarkably vocal presence for someone fresh off an epic ash impacted intercontinental flight. Then on the finish the sun came out with perfect timing, after it had been wet for the first part of the race.

Well done to Parys, a just reward for hard training, looking forward to a race report from Parys

I am sure Ellen will provide a better account of the day, but in what could be described as very good conditions for running London was taken over with Marathon fever.

Having discussed with Ellen her goals for the race over the last week and reviewing recent training, we set two goals, the first to go quicker than last year and the second to target sub 3hrs. Both of the goals were achievable but you never know what can be thrown at you on race day.

It was an absolute joy to spot Ellen on Bird Cage Walk with only 600 meters to go and definitely on target to achieve both goals. The end result a massive pb by 10minutes and under 3 hours. As the finishers T-shirt says “LonDONE”, well done Ellen.