It feels like an eternity since the last time I gave you an update on our ‘One Year To Go Pro’ journey. Month 3 and 4 have been ticked off (sorry for the radio silence… we’ve been training hard). We are well into our transitional block of training and it is safe to say, we are both the fittest we’ve ever been (you would hope so!!!). It’s been a couple of months of ups and downs, achievements and set backs, but all in all pushing forward in the right direction!
Last time we spoke, we had just come out of a training block and it was time for some testing to measure our progress. So how did we do?
Richard’s Results
| Previous Results | Result | |
| Swim | Previous CSS – 1:35 (per/100m) | 400m – 5:38 200m – 2:40 New CSS – 1:29 (per/100m) |
| Bike | Previous FTP – 252w (3.6w/kg) | New FTP – 268w (3.94w/kg) |
| Run | 3km Time Trial – 10:19 | 3km Time Trial – 9:55 |
Richard – “I was very happy with my results and my progress over the past few months. With big breaks in swimming due to covid, to improve my CSS by 6 seconds was a big achievement. My next aim will be to hit sub 1:25 in the swim. While I am happy with the improvement in my FTP on the bike, I know I still have a long way to go to be competitive when racing returns. My next aim is to get my FTP closer to the 300w mark, which is not going to happen over night, this is very much a long term goal for me. For my run, I was delighted to get sub 10 minutes in my 3km time trial. This is a goal I have had for a while and managed to achieve in a park on the wet day with people and dogs to dodge. Next aim will be to go sub 9:30 (hopefully at a track next time). “
Sophie’s Results
| Previous Results | Result | |
| Swim | Previous CSS – 1:45 (per/100m) | 400m – 6:20 200m – 3:04 New CSS – 1:38 (per/100m) |
| Bike | Previous FTP – 232w (3.31w/kg) | New FTP – 247w (3.52w/kg) |
| Run | – | – |
Sophie – “I was happy to have improved my CSS by 7 seconds although I felt terrible on the morning of the test. I think I could definitely have gone faster on a good day but I never had chance to prove it as lockdown number 2 arrived and we weren’t able to use the pool for a month. I haven’t done an FTP in a while and had forgotten how horrendous they are. I was pleased with my effort and happy to see my FTP has gone up. It has been amazing to see improvements in our data but I have loved seeing the changes to my body too. I have muscles that I have never had before and am also on a weight loss mission to help me get in the best possible shape. I am just looking forward to running injury free in the New Year and hopefully seeing a lot of improvement in that discipline too.”
We are also happy to annouce that we have formed some great partnerships with Xendurance, Sundried and Recovery Systems, who we love to use ourselves with some other potential partnerships coming in the near future. Check out our ambassador page for more information about the companies and our discount codes available for you to use.
Over the Christmas period we are going to be moving our training base down to Cornwall to be closer to Sophie’s family. We have made the Lake District our home over the past few months and are going to miss it a lot, but we will be back in the near future. Cornwall is going to pose a few new challenges in our training to find a routine that works for us and figure out the best places to bike and run. But we are really excited to change our surroundings and find new beautiful places to train. The coastal runs and undulating biking routes are calling us!
We are also ecstatic to get entries for Ironman 70.3 Mallorca in May and Ironman 70.3 European Championship Elsinore in June. On top of the other 3 races we have in Zell Am See, Utah and Sardegna, that is 5 races now and gone from a quiet race calendar to a very busy race calendar. We are very excited to see how we can perform next year with all the training we have been putting in.
Whats next in the training? The plan now is to continue to build the base with big volumes of endurance training until the end of January. Then we will be moving into a 3 month block of training in the lead up to Ironman 70.3 Mallorca with race specific training. Unfortunately, Sophie has developed a hip injury on top of her previous quad running injury. So she will be taking a break from running for a while and focusing on the swim and bike. While injuries can be incredibly frustrating, they are also part of the process of being an athlete. We are constantly pushing ourselves to the limit to make ourselves better and sometimes we push ourselves just a bit too far. But each set back is a learning experience and an opportunity to learn and develop into a better athlete in the long term.
