The last couple of years I haven’t documented my goals and key races, while I’ve still had a couple of great years, I feel like maybe I lost sight of what was really important to me and kind of winged it a little bit! In 2021 I set some personal bests in triathlon, completed new distances, and achieved a long-term goal of running a sub 4 marathon. In 2022 I have one huge goal and some smaller goals around that which I’d still like to give my best shot. But I think my race season is planned out pretty well… let’s have a look, shall we?
January – May: Run Focus
First up, my triathlon season will be starting a little later this year. If you follow me on social media, you’ll probably already know that my biggest goal of the year is to complete my first Ironman.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CYkFCe5LbOV/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
With that booked for August, it makes sense to get a Spring marathon under my belt. So, 2nd May (Bank Holiday Monday) I will be running the Milton Keynes Marathon. With this in mind, my coach will be shifting me to more of a running focus in my training. I’ll still need to try and keep up more swimming and cycling than I did Sep-Oct last year, because of how quickly my season will change, but to run a strong marathon I definitely need more kms in my legs!
I don’t really have a solid goal for the marathon – I’ll just see how training feels in the lead-up, but I’ve retained a certain amount of running fitness since Manchester 2021, so I’m hopeful I can improve on my 3:55 from that.
In the lead-up to the marathon, I also have two shorter races to get my legs working:
*PR place.
It would be nice to get close to my PBs at those distances (the London Winter Run is actually where my current 10km PB was set), but I’m not holding my breath. This year is about endurance rather than speed!
And finally, part of the reason for keeping up a higher level of cycling training while preparing for the marathon is that at the end of May I have the Ride London 100 mile sportive! This is part of my bigger goal to complete the London Classics and, after having a place in 2020 that got cancelled, has been a long time coming. I’d originally hoped to complete all three London Classics events in one year (2019), but life got in the way and it didn’t work out.
June – August: Ironman Focus
So now, with a marathon and 100-mile bike ride in the bank, I have 10 weeks post-Ride London to pull it all together with a 3.8km swim at the start! I’ll go straight from Ride London into a middle distance triathlon the next weekend… but with the right training in the lead-up to May, I think this should be totally doable.
Originally, I had intended to race the Cotswolds 113 on this date. But in all honesty, I wanted something a little closer to home. I don’t really want to be booking up hotels and staying away from home for many weekends this year. It’s more time away from family, the stress and effort of packing carb-loading nutrition as well as all my race-day kit, and it adds cost to an already very expensive sport. And the bonus with Grafman, in particular, is that it’s really close to where my Mum lives!
The goal for this one isn’t necessarily a PB – I think it’s really hard to compare different races/events in triathlon because they’re all quite changeable with conditions, terrain, distances, etc. The goal is to race strong, get some decent pacing and transition practice under my belt, and really dial in my nutrition ready for the challenge ahead.
After Grafman, I have the choice of either slotting in another middle distance in July, but treating it as a long training session and not really tapering/recovering for it, or just continuing on with a training build. I haven’t fully decided yet, but if I do slot in the extra event, it will be the Big East middle distance – this year relocated to Maldon, which is near to my Dad! I did the Maldon Sprint distance last year and really enjoyed it, so it would be nice to do an event there again.
- Big East Middle Distance Triathlon (10th July) – not booked
And my final race of this period is… Ironman! The big one. Everything I’ll have done in the first half of the year will be leading up to this and I am beyond nervous and excited. I had a few different Ironman events in mind for August – Finland, Copenhagen or Gdynia. I chose this one because a) the date worked out perfectly and b) Cloe is racing with her friend Mark and both their partners are coming to support. I’ll be sharing an Air BnB with them, which means plenty of triathlon chat, nerve-settling, and support – I’m so grateful to them for taking me under their wing as an IM newbie!
My goal for Ironman? Finish it, preferably not hating the sport! I know this one’s going to be tough – it’s, without doubt, going to be the hardest event I’ve ever attempted. But hopefully, I will get to that finish line red carpet knowing I’ve done all I could.
September – December: Just for fun!
With Ironman (hopefully) done, that’s my season nearly done… however I do want to finish off with two last events… both for a bit of fun really.
- Swim Serpentine 2 mile swim (date TBC, but usually in September) – not booked
- Outlaw X Middle Distance Triathlon (25th September) – not booked
If the dates don’t clash with each other (and I really hope they don’t!) then the Swim Serpentine should allow me to collect my London Classics medal, and Outlaw X could mean experiencing triathlon race day with Ian, which I would be so happy about! I’ve tried for a while now to convince him to do one (I think he would be great because he used to swim at county level, cycled a lot to work, and is a pretty decent runner too!). Being able to support each other in sport means so much to me and we both understand the importance of training so we make it work even when it’s hard.
After September, that’s me kind of done for the year! I’ll probably be given and end of season break by my coach, and then it will be a case of heading into winter training. I’d like to get out on my bike more next winter because this time I let the maintenance side of things and the cold weather hold me back… but I think those winter rides really make a difference when it comes to spring training again so I’m going to make more effort to be ride-ready in winter 2022!
What about you…?
So, that’s my year kind of planned out! I haven’t got everything booked yet, but most of it is taking shape and my training is underway. You can keep an eye on my race calendar as and when some of these get confirmed if you’re interested. And let me know if you’ll be at any of the same races – it would be so nice to say hello and share some nervous pre-race chats!
What have you got booked in your race calendar and what are your goals for 2022?
