My first ‘Team GB Age Group’ experience -part 1

So after 40 plus years of running and competing in over 600 races including 12 London Marathons, 20 Great North Runs, every Great Eastern Run and most events in between I now face the challenge and honour of competing for Team GB in the European Duathlon Championships. Following the qualifying event last year at Clumber Park it’s been a long wait, but finally the event in Soria, Spain is now very much real. Having competed in the European Masters Half Marathon in Portugal last year I have a fairly good idea what to expect. My training up to the event has included the Bedford Duathlon where I finished 2nd in my age group to qualify for the ‘Worlds’ in Canada later this year, a series of ‘brick sessions’ in training, regular local races and park runs and I now feel prepared to tackle the unknown course in Soria – about 3 hours drive from Madrid – in Spain.

My running form is good, thanks to a great training programme from Dave Tune at ‘Blizzard’ and hopefully this will give me a few extra minutes which I will need on the bike leg. Despite winter turbo training I’m still struggling to maintain form on the bike and is the reason I’m doing the sprint event and not the standard which running wise I think I would smash! The bike is on its way to Spain, my kit has arrived. A huge thank you to Richard Astle and Athene Communications for their support and to my family and friends for their enormous encouragement. The usual final week taper  niggles are here, tight legs, feeling yak and dehydrated. However a final massage from physio Glyn will I am sure send me off feeling as well prepared as I can be. So…Adiós por ahora más noticias más tarde.