Leeds WTS & Racing
- William Cowen
- Jun 27, 2016
- 4 min read
It's been a busy couple of weeks! I ended May by racing in the outlaw half race at Nottingham- but only the swim! A friend in Loughborough asked me if I wanted to be part of the High 5 team who were competing at the race, as they were no longer able. I didn't realise at the time that the start time would be quite so early (6.30am), but after leading the swim out in just over 24 minutes for the 1.9km we ended up coming second team on the day. It was good to be able to practice a race scenario swim without the pressure of having to bike and run after, something I always find tricky to master during the early season races.
A couple of solid weeks of training followed, marred only by a nagging foot problem which limited my running volume slightly. Determined to not let it get out of control, I took the decision to completely rest it, which I now know after my many previous injuries to be the best thing for it! It also needed to heal up if I were to be able to race Dambuster and Cholmondeley castle in June, 2 races on 2 consecutive weekends.
The weekend before Dambuster, Kathryn and I headed up to Leeds the night before the inaugural Leeds WTS race. We stayed overnight with Mika (a friend from uni) in Harrogate on Saturday, before getting the train into Leeds to watch the race on Sunday morning. The race was spectacular, with Leeds hosting what was a unique and challenging course that provided some great racing in both the men's and women's races. The video from our trip is below:
The taper for my 2 races in 2 weekends began with a rest day the day after getting back from Leeds. I was confident with the training I had done, so the urge to do more panic training was not there this time. Dambuster is a race that is based in Whitwell, a small village on the north shore of Rutland water. Having grown up in the area and explored it many times by bike, I knew the course inside out, something which is always an advantage. My parents live a 20 minute drive from the race, so the night before was spent there resulting in a night's sleep that was a bout as good as a pre-race night's sleep can be! I stuck to my pre-race plan as best I could, with only a poor T1 getting in the way of things. After getting off the bike around 30 seconds down on the leaders, I had moved into first place after around 3km of the run, and held onto it through a few potentially race wrecking bouts of hamstring cramp until the finish.
For the week after Dambuster my coach and I had a plan with regards to training, but I ended up missing a few bits of it out before my race the following weekend. I feel it is important in situations like these to really listen to your body and go on feel- something that is hard to balance with the objectivity created by many training plans and methods, but important for maintaining good health and racing to your best.
We travelled up to stay at an air bnb near Cholmondeley the night before the race- this is something I would definitely recommend vs. staying in hotels. Our hosts not only gave us access to their garage for bike storage, but also made breakfast in the morning before the race at 6am! The castle series races are know for their long, hilly bike courses and off road, hilly runs; and Cholmondeley certainly does not disappoint. I had raced the course before as it had been the BUCS olympic race in 2013, but unfortunately I didn't finish that race due to a hip injury I had at the time. This meant I was prepared for what the course would throw at me, and after a slightly changed 2 lap swim I found myself coming onto the bike around 30 seconds down on the leaders. This was more more than it should have been after I managed to get stuck in my wetsuit in T1! I rode up to the leaders within the first 5km and the group was whittled down over the hilly terrain to 3 of us taking it in turns to sit on the from of our non- drafting 'pack'. At the end of the first lap of two on the bike, I decided to attack through a technical bit of the course and managed to drop the other two riders. I found out later this was unfortunately helped by a car pulling out of a junction into one of the other riders, who was thankfully ok other than a bit of road-rash. I didn't see anyone else for the rest of the bike or run and managed to make it two wins in two weekends, a pretty great feeling!
With the tenancy on my current house coming to an end, I will be spending the next week moving into the new place before heading off to the Pyrenees with an old friend from uni. The plan is to drive down in one day, before spending the next week exploring what the mountains have to offer by bike, and hopefully seeing the Tour too.
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