Wacky races - 2013 race schedule

One of the biggest advantages of having moved back to Europe - other than hot chocolate on a cold day, and, y'know, actual culture and trees and stuff - is that there are so many events to choose from. With that in mind, over these winter months when snowfall, sub-zero temperatures and 4pm sunsets have made summer triathlons feel a long way away, I've diligently gone about building my race schedule for the year ahead. 

I've mentioned on numerous occasions that Dubai was a wonderful place to discover triathlon but, due to the 12 months a year schedule if you're doing a big summer race, it also had its drawbacks.

With those drawbacks in mind, this year's race schedule (my first ever European summer schedule) looks a lot like this:

10 Feb - Schoorl Half Marathon

10 March - The Hague Half Marathon

14 April - Rotterdam Marathon

11 May - Rat Race Dirty Weekend

16 June - Berlin Ironman 70.3

14 September - Challenge Almere-Amsterdam (half iron distance)

As well as these, there are a couple of bike sportives I'll tackle in spring, there's a canal swim race in Amsterdam at the end of summer, and there are a few local sprint tris I'll do either individually or for my Tri Club (draft-legal... should be fun!) but, essentially, they'll all be parts of the build for the bigger events.

It's a schedule I'm excited about for a variety of reasons. Firstly, in spite of having done a couple of full Ironmans, I've never done a half IM so looking forward to trying a couple of those. Secondly, as I wrote in my 10 triathlon resolutions for 2013, I wanted to try something different and exciting this year and the Rat Race Dirty Weekend (the world's biggest ever obstacle course - 200 obstacles over 20 miles!) is certainly that.

Significantly, it's the sort of season I didn't manage in Dubai where I feel I just trained continually and maybe looked to peak once during the summer for an Ironman. This summer, I'll look to peak for the Rotterdam Marathon, Berlin 70.3 and the Half Challenge Almere-Amsterdam - my A races that are all nicely spaced out. Thanks to this, as well as the weather, it also means that during the early season I can focus on my run (my weakest discipline) like I never have before, while swimming and cycling take a back seat for a while before being picked up in the spring.

Finally, I feel like it's a schedule that's going to help me see some significant improvements as I build up for another Ironman in 2014 and look to shatter my 10.59 in Austria. I might be wrong - it could turn out that I'm just the kind of athlete who benefits from 3 swims, 3 bikes, 3 runs a week all year round, but I don't feel like that's going to be the case. Best of all, it's a schedule that has me super motivated and just champing at the bit to get out there and start racing again. It's been a while...

Break and entry

So, for 10 more days at least, this remains a desert-based blog. The big move to Amsterdam means that this year’s race season is really over before it even begun as I’ll be leaving Dubai before any of the local races kick in, and arriving in Holland a couple of months after the summer season has ended there. All of which is likely to result in around nine months between my last race and my next!

So, I’ve been relaxing, putting my feet up and getting fat, right? 

Well, not too much as it happens. Even though I know it’s not really with any particular goal in mind, I’ve kept up the training just coz I enjoy it and know that, come 1 November, my training will take on a whole new form entirely as I juggle a lack of races with cold weather and hitting the gym a bit more.

It is, I admit, quite hard to keep motivation levels up at times and there’ve been one or two sessions that I just couldn’t drag my ass out of bed for; I’m a firm believer in goals and, for me, racing is the goal that keeps me going.

With that – and a long, cold winter (having not had to put up with a northern European winter for more than a decade, I’m probably exaggerating it somewhat but, in my mind, it looks something like Beyond The Wall in Game of Thrones) – in mind, last week, I went race mad. After the break, time for the entry… so to speak.

Winter run training?

Having failed to get into the London Marathon through the ballot, I entered the Rotterdam Marathon which takes place in, well, Rotterdam (think that’s how the race got its name, but I can’t be sure about that…) on 14 April. As the last two marathons I’ve done have come at the end of 3.8km of swimming and 180km of cycling, I can’t wait to see what I’m capable of doing in a straight running race.

Liverpool or Rome..?

A few weeks after that, I’ll be heading to the UK for something completely different altogether. The Rat Race Dirty Weekend is being pitched as the world biggest and toughest ever obstacle course – 200 obstacles in 20 themed zones, with 20 miles of running (five-sixths of a marathon) in between. Basically, I’ve always wanted to tackle one of those crazy army/game show assault courses and, when I saw that and the words ‘toughest ever’ I knew I had to have a crack!

Well, if GI Jane could do it...

Couple more race ideas up in the noggin at the moment but just going to allow them to soak and brew until I make a firm decision. Even just those two events have given me some real motivation and helped me to plan my winter training. It’s a simple but good tip that I find always works: if you’re having trouble focusing on your training, get yourself entered into a race. Everything becomes far clearer.