Read nouriSH me now's blog by Julian Lings of his race at Ashbourne duathlon where he became English Champion.......
'I don't know about you, but I never watch the weather forecast as
closely as the day before a big race. Disc or no disc? Arm warmers, no warmers?
Looking at what mother nature had in store for the English Duathlon
Championships, it was clear we were in for a brutal day battling the wind on
the hills of the Peak District.
Those of you who know the Ashbourne duathlon course will no doubt agree that it’s
plenty tough enough even without a howling 20mph plus crosswind. The race
starts with a 12km run around Carsington Reservoir. Even though the route
follows the outline of the reservoir it is anything but flat. Constantly
undulating with some pretty steep inclines, it's a punishing way to start the
race. However, the real test comes on the bike. With sizable hills, deceptive
false flats and not much cover from prevailing winds, the bike course is a
brute, pure and simple.
I arrived at the race determined to make amends for a rather indifferent start
to my season. I knew the competition would be strong with the likes of Hugh
MacKenzie lining up. Before the start I generally try and focus on the race and
shut everything else out. This time I probably should have listened to the
announcements of the late entrants. As soon as the race started I quickly got
into my stride and tried to work the guys at the front pretty hard. After about
5km there was still one guy on my shoulder. I turned to see who it was only to
realise that it was none other than late surprise entrant GB triathlete Will
Clarke. That was quite a shock! Definitely made me concentrate on getting the
best out of every stride I took. I made
a change this year and started working with New Balance and was thankful for
every millisecond of speed they have helped me gain.
Onto the bike and I felt remarkably good considering the speed at which Will
and I had completed the run. Looking at the weather it was clear that the first
half of the bike course (the hard part) was going to be right into the wind
until the summit of the biggest climb. My plan was simply to go all out on this
part and hope that I could summon something up in the second half. This ended
up paying dividends but did require a me to dig very deep. The onset of cramp
at 23km was excruciating but I was able to cycle threw it and power, or maybe
just struggle, on. The final run is a straight 4km out and back across the dam.
It wasn't my quickest but I knew the hard work had already been done and I had
enough of a lead to be able to enjoy the last five or ten minutes without
having to be right on the limit. Job done, great win!
Great race on a truly great course. Big thanks to Nourish Me Now who have given
me so much support this year providing me with recovery drinks. Next year let's
have the British Championships at Ashbourne! Or even better, let’s have
Powerman back! '
