Olly Simon Talks Triathlons - A Blog from a Triathlete

First blog just to set the stage for 2019, I will keep regular blogs up to date with as much content as possible. Everything Triathlon rather than personal life and as much transparency as possible as I want people to learn from my experience rather than have to waste years testing every article you read and listen to all the crap out there.

Looking forward to 2019, new races on the calendar, may be some new kit as I only spent on some bike upgrades this year. I will only go for kit that will make me faster or a better athlete as it’s no good looking flashy if it’s slowing you down! Upgrades this year were just Cbear ceramic bottom bracket and jockey wheels which was not that expensive and definitely made the bike feel smoother, tried some new tri shoes as I needed fast transitions for the short races but I still haven’t found the best fit. That’s as far as I went as I felt the kit I have at the moment is fast, my 2xu wetsuit is 3 years old and is a bit worn now but it’s more solid and buoyant than the new ones coming out so I still feel faster in it, my bike and me are built for flat courses at the moment and that showed over the season, hopefully I can improve on that this year.

On to this year, I will have a go at the Welsh super series again as I’m in this sport to compete with the top guys not just finish or win novice events by minutes, planning for Staffordshire 70.3 as funds won’t allow races abroad plus I want to get more 70.3 races this year with closed roads and a quality field, it will be a good test before LCW.

The race calendar didn’t take long to fill up as I can be selective about races plus it’s more about keeping motivated and getting the most out of myself in between training blocks which I didn’t manage last year as I picked up an injury every time I started getting somewhere.

2018 I just ticked over with training, swimming was pathetic as I was racing well enough in my wetsuit I didn’t really care about hammering myself in threshold sets, hardest swim was Bala triathlon as it was non wetsuit, I actually got that arm and back ache that my training was lacking, changes for this year on my swim as Kona is non wetsuit and although my 8k a week was OK for wetsuit swims it’s not going to keep me near the front in a swim skin.

Pic of my first decent wetsuit couldn’t swim slow with those arms!

Training in mind for this year I can still make gains even at my age, my bike is still improving, pbs in most races this year which was mostly down to competition. I generally do most sets on the turbo but this year the same theme as swimming it’s been box ticking sessions, occasionally I was motivated for a horrible set but most of the time I stick to the bare minimum that I know will keep my power levels the same. I did have a power PB at the last 50mile timetrial of the year which was 6 weeks before China, not amazing as I was 4 kilos heavier than last time but it’s still nice to make gains, I haven’t done an FTP test all year but I held 330 for 1hr 48, same power at Bala and 305 for China as I was running after, I will be happy with these numbers if I can improve the bike and get my weight back to 74kilos.

I will make an effort to improve my bike again but swim and run will be about getting back to where I have been before, my swim has been strong enough for 4K hard and my run was as good as it will get in 2016, main goal for Kona is being running fit on the day, LCW will be a test and my only other marathon this year, if I can run 2:50 like 2016 or under I will be happy.

Picture looking strong 12 miles in to a 2:50.

I will talk more about Kona in later blogs as it’s a long way off. In summary for my first blog, hopefully more motivation for this year, consistant training gains with out set backs. Kit upgrades if possible staying as independent as I can because although Kona is a big brand ambassador tick I won’t end up spending more money than is necessary to represent a brand properly on kit that’s not going to make me faster, also not much one for social networking, plus no one wants to see my face after a training session without filters.

I will let the racing do the talking and that’s where the kit will be shown off to!