Worlds Qualification + run PB's

It's been a fairly decent couple of weeks for results and so forth. Training has been fairly consistent, but I was chatting to someone this morning about how much harder it is to add 10-15% to your training in terms of intensity. While I'm not putting in any more hours (a bit less in fact) than I was over winter I'm having to enforce a rest day each week just to give the body a chance. Up to now I've been coping with a day off every 10 days or so, but at the moment that just doesn't cut it - and I need to listen to the body now and ignore the training schedule when I feel I need to.

Touch wood I'm relatively free of injury. Unfortunately I've had a very worrying knee pain for the last couple of weeks (bike related), but hamstring troubles that have been loitering around for 6 weeks or so seem to be fading a little, I hope....

Grand East Anglian Run 10km - 2/5/10
This was my big hope for a run PB. This was the 4th year I've raced it I think, and the course is pretty fast. Target was 34.40 which would have been a 40 second PB. I was well on for it at halfway going through in under 17 minutes, but really faded in the second half coming in in 34.58. 21 second PB - is 2.1 seconds per km what I've been working for a year to achieve?? Yes it is I guess.
I should have been doing a 10m TT the following morning, but didn't fancy riding it in the gales that were blowing that morning, so stayed in bed.

Grendon Sprint Tri - 9/5/10
Big early season race. I've always done well in sprints and bearing the fact that I seem to go downhill from August onwards I fancied the thought of doing this race to qualify for the Budapest Worlds in September - giving me the chance to decrease the volume in August and still have a big goal at the end of it.
I needed top 4 in age and thought it was do-able. The worrying factor was the weather - I have terrible circulation and am really pretty awful with the cold. As it was, it was pretty windy and on the morning there was an air temperature of 7 degrees and a water temp of 12 degrees - ouch.
Anyway, I was first wave. Exited the water in about 6th with feet like blocks of ice. Goggles had leaked and I just had problems breathing throughout - think it was the cold + first wetsuit outing.
Bike was a course I should have excelled on - under my wetsuit I had my one piece + a two piece top, thermal long sleeve and arm warmers. I'd been so concious of my fingers leaving me that I wanted to try and keep some warmth. Through the 23k course I was fighting the urge to vom all the way but went past 4 people so figured I had to be near the front.

Coming into T2 I saw my wife waiting on the side of the road for me - when she realised it was me she started bouncing manically and screaming - evidently that meant I'd overtaken everyone and got to the front! The run was solid if unspectacular, but I extended my lead a fraction and came in 1st from the 30-39's.
A very disappointing time, but it seems that everyone was about 4 minutes down on last year due to the wind and cold. 7th overall and qualification done - big hopes for September now with some focussed sprint training later in the season....

Great Yarmouth 5 mile run 12/5/10
Just a little that I've not done for a while. PB stood at 28.30 and I figured I should be good for somewhere between 27.30 and 28.00. In the end I finished with 27.58. Faded again but not quite as dramatically as in previous races.


Next is Newmarket Triathlon on 16/5/10. Should be interesting against the Waveney winner and some other decent bods.