My goals and races for 2022

In the last couple of years, I haven't been documenting my goals and major races, and while I still had a great couple of years, I feel like I may have lost sight of what was really important to me and kind of. ! In 2021, I achieved some personal bests in triathlon, completed new distances, and achieved a long-term goal of running a sub-4 marathon. In 2022, I have one big goal and a few small goals around that goal and I still want to do my best . But I think my racing season is well planned… Let's take a look, shall we?

January – May: Turn on focus

First, my triathlon season will start a little later this year. If you follow me on social media, you probably already know that my biggest goal for the year is to complete my first goal Iron man.

With this booked for August, it makes sense to get a spring marathon under my belt. So, on May 2nd (bank holiday Monday) I will be running the Milton Keynes Marathon. With this in mind, my coach will shift me to focusing more on running in my training. I'll still need to try to stick with swimming and cycling more than I did in September and October last year, because of how quickly my season is changing, but to run a strong marathon, I definitely need more kilometers in my legs!

I don't have a really firm target for the marathon – I'll just see what the training looks like in the lead up to it, but I've maintained a certain amount of running fitness since Manchester 2021, so hopefully I can improve. At 3:55 of that.

In the lead up to the marathon, I also have two shorter races to work my legs:

* Public relations place.

It would be nice to get my PBs closer at those distances ( London winter race It's actually where my current PB is set for 10km), but I'm not holding my breath. This year is all about endurance, not speed!

Finally, part of the reason I'm keeping my cycling training at a higher level while preparing for the marathon is that at the end of May I'll be taking part in the London 100 Mile Ride! This is part of my larger goal to complete London classics Having had a seat in 2020 that was cancelled, it has been a long time coming. I had originally hoped to complete the three London Classics in one year (2019), but life got in the way and it didn't work out.

June-August: Focus on Ironman

Now, with a marathon and a 100 mile bike ride in the bank, I have 10 weeks after the London ride to put it all together with a 3.8km swim to start with! I'm going straight from Ride London to a middle distance triathlon next weekend… but with the right training in the lead up to May, I think this should be completely doable.

Originally, I had intended to run the 113th Cotswolds on this date. But in all honesty, I wanted something a little closer to home. I don't really want to book hotels and stay away from home for multiple weekends this year. It's more time away from family, and the stress and effort of packing carb-laden nutrients on top of all my race day gear, that adds cost to an already expensive sport. The bonus with Grafman, in particular, is that it's so close to where my mom lives!

The point of this isn't necessarily a PB – I think it's really hard to compare different races/events in triathlon because they're all quite changeable with conditions, terrain, distances etc. The goal is to race hard and get some. Speed ​​practice and decent transitions under my belt, and I'm really dialing in my nutrition in preparation for the next challenge.

After Grafman, I have the option of either doing another middle distance in July, but treating it like a long training session and not tapering/recovering from it, or just continuing to build the training. I haven't fully decided yet, but if I do the extra event, it will be the Middle Distance in the Big East – this year has been moved to Maldon, which is close to my parents! I did the Maldon Sprint last year and really enjoyed it, so it would be nice to do an event there again.

• Big East Middle Distance Triathlon (July 10) – Not Booked

My last race during this period is…IRONMAN! The big one. Everything I do in the first half of the year will lead to this and I'm very nervous and excited. I had a few different Ironman events in mind for August – Finland, Copenhagen or Gdynia. I chose this one because a) the date was set up perfectly and b) Chloe is racing with her friend Mark and both partners come to offer support. I'll be sharing an Air BnB with them, which means lots of three-way chatting, chilling out and support – I'm so grateful to them for taking me under their wing as an IM newbie!

My goal for Ironman? Complete it, and you better not hate the sport! I know this is going to be tough – it will undoubtedly be the hardest event I've ever attempted. But I hope I get to the finish line on the red carpet knowing I did everything I could.

September – December: Just for fun!

With Ironman over (hopefully), this season is almost over… However, I want to end with two final events… both for a bit of fun, really.

• 2-Mile Serpentine Swim (date TBD, but usually September) – Unreserved
• Outlaw

If the dates don't clash with each other (and I really hope they don't!) the snakeswimming should allow me to get my medal at the London Classics, and Outlaw I've been trying for a while to get him to do it (I think it would be great since he swam at the county level, biked a lot to work, and is a good runner too!). Being able to support each other in sport means a lot to me, and we both understand the importance of training so we make it work even when it's hard.

After September, this is what I did for the year! My coach will probably give me the end of the season off, and then it'll be like heading to winter training. I want to ride my bike more next winter because this time I'm letting the maintenance side of things and the cold weather get in the way of me…but I think those winter rides really make a difference when it comes to spring training again so I'm going to put in more effort to be ready to ride in the winter of 2022!

What about you…?

So, this is kind of my planned year! I haven't booked everything yet, but most of it is taking shape and my training is underway. You can keep an eye on me Race calendar When some of these things are confirmed if you're interested. And let me know if you'll be participating in any of the races themselves – it would be nice to say hello and share some pre-race nervous chit-chat!

What have you booked on your racing calendar and what are your goals for 2022?