Getting Ready for the European Triathlon Champs in Turkey

I haven’t got long to go now. In fact by this time next week the race will be over and it will all be done an dusted. I’m off to the European Triathlon Championships in Alanya, Turkey where I’ll be competing for Team-GB in the 40-44 year old Age-Group. Training has been going well, although I am a little tired at the moment but hopefully a week of relative rest will see me well recovered and up to speed for the race. It might not of course, but I intend to enjoy it however well (or badly) I perform.

As usual there is a lot to organise before going away, supplies need to be bought, bags packed and paperwork, passports etc need to be in order. I usually change my tyres on my bike and get my bike race-ready before packing it away. I have one ride on it in race trim before taking it apart and putting it in the box so on Firday I cleaned it changed the tyres and gave it a checkover before heading out on a ride. I’m glad I did mind you as the front tyre was looking a little worse for wear. I’ve barely used this tyre, I’ve only done about 50 miles on it so I’m glad I was checking it ready for a race as I may not have checked it otherwise and would have ended up making repairs out on the road.

The ride went well though. I was feeling pretty tired and didn’t feel as though I was going that well, but once I got home and uploaded things to Strava I had managed a PB for the Borth Loop in an anti-clockwise direction. I don’t ride it in this direction very often, but PB’s are always good all the same.

I then did a short 20 minute run off the bike. By this time I was even more tired and the run felt even less great – needless to say there were no PB’s here. I’m looking forward to my taper week now.

Saturday morning it was time to pack the bike into it’s box ready for the flights to Turkey. I could probably get almost all of my luggage into the bike box, but don’t want to put all of my eggs into one basket just in case anything gets lost.

Bike-Box

I shall be packing as much as I can into my hand luggage. I may take a small third bag as well with clothes distributed evenly amongst the bags and bike box, although I won’t need too much in the way of clothes as it’s gong to be hot in Turkey.

Talking of the heat, I think that is the biggest unknown as far as the race goes for me. Most of my training is done in temperatures of 10°C or less. We’ve had a few days a little warmer than that lately but as I often train early in the morning I haven’t had much time to acclimatise. I have sat in the sauna a few times over the past couple of weeks though. However, temperatures in Alanya at the moment are anywhere between 20°C overnight and reach a maximum 35°C or more during the day. My race starts early in the morning so I’m hoping it’ll be on the cooler side of these figures, but even so it’s a lot warmer than anything I’ve ever trained or raced in. We’ll just have to see how well I adapt.

The other unknown of course is the competition. As always there are some pretty fast looking people in my age-group so it should be quite a race. I’m looking forward to it now though and I’m sure you’ll all get to hear how it goes. Wish me luck.

Tags: AlanyaETUTriathlonTurkey