WhittleFit Blog

London Marathon race report - Craig Burrows

Buzz London

Coached athlete Craig Burrows raced the London Marathon a few weeks ago, he was chasing a PB and the illusive sub-3 marathon, here's his thoughts on the day!

I still remember turning the corner at the Mall in 2015 thinking I had just pulled off one of the biggest endurance coups of all time, before seeing 3:00:44 on my timing chip. I was so close to going under 3 hours without ever expecting to. I took a gamble that day and it nearly paid off.

So.... Here we were again.... London Marathon 2017. This year however it had a vastly different aura emanating from it. After narrowly missing out in 2015 I had one clear goal. This time there would be no gambling, I had to go under 3 hours. I wanted it so much.

Preparation: My physical preparation for London was left firmly in the hands of Coach (Mark). He knew my 2017 goals and a sub 3 hour London Marathon was paramount. Mark had to structure my training in such a way that I could incorporate enough running to achieve a sub-3 London whilst not completely neglecting my bike and swimming fitness for Ironman Hamburg, a difficult task given the magnitude of my ambition. We roughly settled on a training week that looked similar to the one below. This meant football had to go, at least until after the marathon.

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat	Sun
Swim	Easy Run	Swim	Easy Run	Turbo	Easy Run	Long Run
Turbo		Speedy Run

Amman Valley Sprint Triathlon race report - James Grandfield

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Coached athlete James Grandfield raced the Amman Valley sprint triathlon a few weeks ago, sorry for the delay, here's his thoughts on the day!

So, here it goes, my first ever race report! I did the Amman Valley sprint triathlon (400m swim, 16km bike and 5km run) last week, my day began as usual, up early and make a cup of tea for the wife (I know my place!), coffee for me and a nappy change, then the babies nappy change! The sun was shining in South Wales for a change so it was good to know that hopefully a fast day was ahead.

Rushing as usual I got to registration with 5 minutes to spare, but with an hour until my start time I could chill out. Bike racked, a telling off for being on my bike in transition (I had actually just clipped my shoe on my bike with my foot in it) and I was in my tri suit and ready to race.

16 lengths of a 25m pool is something I have come to love. A swimmer at heart, its a peaceful place in the pool and I just wish the swim was a larger part of triathlon. 14 tumble turns later and I was out the water, 5:03. I’m at peace with the fact my my old swimming PBs will forever be my PBs; so I’m always pleased to be around the 5 minute mark on only 3km of swimming a week for the past 18 months.

Team WhittleFit racing roundup - 1st & 2nd April 2017

There were lots of WhittleFit athletes and friends of WhittleFit racing this weekend, lets see how they got on: FullSizeRender

Liverpool Half Marathon: Stu Fraser backed up his PB at the Reading Half Marathon last week with a new PB at the Liverpool Half Marathon on Sunday, great work Stu!
Taunton Half Marathon: Craig Burrows raced the Taunton Half Marathon in preparation for the London Marathon in a few weeks and managed a very solid time of 1:24 in what turned out to be a rather hot & hilly event; well done Craig!
Bournemouth Half Marathon: Tom Foster raced the Bournemouth Half Marathon on Sunday and managed a time of 1:15 for 3rd place overall! Well done Tom, all on track for the London Marathon in a few weeks.
KOM Sportive: Lots of friends and coached athletes did the KOM Sportive on Sunday and I think everyone will agree that this course was absolutely nails! Very well done to everyone who completed it!
Tour de Shane Sportive: the Tour de Shane Sportive took place on Saturday in west Wales with over 300 entrants, with ex-Wales and Lions rugby player Shane Williams leading the way in aid of his chosen charity, Velindre. Well done all!
Cardiff Bay 10K: Luke Pryce backed up a 5k PB last week with a new 10k PB today at the Cardiff Bay 10k, well done Luke!
Manchester Marathon: Martin Davies & Wendy Stamp both did the Manchester Marathon yesterday. Martin came home in 4:07 and Wendy managed 5:53 in her first ever marathon, well done Martin & Wendy, that's an amazing effort from you both!
Vale of Glamorgan Ultra: Gavin Burrough and Simon Thomas ran the stunning Vale of Glamorgan Ultra (32 miles) on Saturday with Gavin coming in at 8:36 (as a team) & Simon Thomas coming home in 6:45; well done guys!

Very well done everyone who raced this weekend!

Team WhittleFit racing roundup - 25th & 26th March 2017

This weekend we had LOTS of WhittleFit athletes racing, lets check out what they did and how they got on:

Mumbles Duathlon: we had well over 10 athletes racing at the ever-popular Mumbles Duathlon, including coach Henry! We had lots of PB's, with some notable performances from Gill Hopkins (6th lady), Angharad Pocock (11th lady), Simon Thomas (11th overall and 1st vet), Andrew Fraser-Cole (17th overall) and coach Henry (21st overall), very well done all!
Scottish National Duathlon Championships: John MacNamara (coached by coach Chris) raced the Stirling Duathlon yesterday, which doubled as the Scottish National Champs; John had a great race to finish 11th overall and 2nd in his age group. Well done John!
Cranleigh 21: Tom Foster ran the Cranleigh 21 yesterday, with a time of 2:06:30 for 21 miles and 4th place. Great running from Tom and excellent preparation for London Marathon in a few weeks.

Post-race analysis........do it!

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We are quickly moving into events season now, with runs, duathlons and triathlons aplenty. It’s an exciting time of year for both athletes and coaches. This is where the hard work starts to pay off: all those hours on the turbo, eating the right food, setting the alarm for the early mornings and sacrificing social engagements.

The build up to your event is an important time, and will usually involve a taper of some kind, kit preparation and race-day planning….whilst at the same time trying to remain calm as the big day approaches.

It’s important to embrace this part of training, and whilst you may feel a little lazy, or bored during your taper, before you know it, the event will be underway, with adrenaline pumping and hopefully a successful race experience.

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