With an Ironman around the corner, Dave Mawhinney decided to cut the training volume and add some intensity. Following his strong performance at Shrewsbury Triathlon, he took part in the Bala Olympic distance tri, which also acted as a qualification race for the 2013 European Championships in Turkey. Well, the Ironman aerobic volume training certainly didn’t harm his speed as he finished second in his age group…

Instead of doing a weekend of training prior to taking part in IM Wales, I decided to take part in the Bala Olympic distance triathlon. As the race was a European qualifier, I expected the field to be strong and full of people chasing qualifying places for the European event being held in Turkey next summer.

On arriving in Bala, the lake seemed calm, but by the time I entered the water in the last swim wave the wind had really got up making the outward swim leg very choppy (hopefully good practice for the sea swim of IM Wales). After the turn around the return swim leg was thankfully less difficult.

I was soon onto the bike, battling the westerly wind on the outward leg and riding past people from previous waves. I was relieved to get to the turnaround point and be able to head back to transition with the wind behind me.

By the time I exited T2, I was placed 3rd in my age group, but mindfull of my IM race coming up, I decided not to push too hard on the run. I took it easier on the outward leg, but because I felt strong at the turnaround point, pushed it harder on the way back and managed to catch the person 2nd in my age group 500m from the line, therefore crossing the line in 2nd place.

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