GRAFMAN MIDDLE DISTANCE - UK CHAMPS..3rd times a charm?

Howdy partners, race time again! This weekend is the UK Middle Distance Championships held as part of the Grafman triathlon over half ironman distance. There seems to be a lot on this weekend so not sure how that will affect the depth of the field as, following my usual protocol, beyond checking I'm on the start sheet I haven't really looked.

​This will be my third attempt at the UK champs which has not been my luckiest event is has to be said; 2013  at Beaver saw me crash on the bike while leading and peeling myself head to toe. Despite being urged by the organiser to perhaps quit and stop upsetting children with my bloody appearence I struggled through the run to finish 21st. Turned out I'd broken my pelvis when I crashed but I only found that out  a couple of months later when I was still struggling to run.
​I was back at it in 2015 in Bala but this race was stopped due to the tragic fatality of another competitor. So here's hoping it goes (much) better for all concerned than either of those outings

​Training has been going okay if not brilliantly. I've been off running since early April due to a Achilles tendon problem but I have managed 3 short runs this week (total 16km) which has been a confidence boost. At the end of last week I thought I might just be using the event to test my swim & bike and pulling out at T2 but now I'm taking to the start line with a finish in mind.

​With no pro wave the rolling swim start rather than a mass start is new to me and I'm not sure it benifits on hinders me. I don't like the madness of a mass start but there are big advantages to drafting and navigating, we shall see. Water temperatures are hovering at a heady 13 degrees which means the swim shoud be full distance. In the past I'd always have been pushing for a shorter swim if it was in the balance but given my improvements so far this year I'm not too worried either way.

​Bike has been very solid and while I haven't been making top end gains (I'm not training to, so no suprise) my ability to sustain a higher proportion of my current threshold is improving so I'm upping my target power for the bike leg from 80% of FTP to 86%. I don't know the course at all but hope to squeeze in a drive around on Saturday evening to give me an idea of what it will be like.

​So all in all, looking forward to pinning on a number again and giving it a 100%. See you on the other side.

Ciao

​Ali