1. How did you train and get prepare for Aquathlon ORIGIN at this current situation (having social distancing measures in place)?
I’ve been training mostly solo now for the past year given the restrictions in place. Finding local spots to train and utilising in-house facilities has been the key to training consistently week on week. My preparation for the Aquathlon ORIGIN has been focusing on speed sets with the swim and run. It’s a shorter race, so training at a higher intensity will hopefully keep me in a good position during the race. Also practising transition from the swim to run has been a focus, as you can gain on your competitors if you do it right.
2. Due to the rolling start, the Aquathlon format is very much like a time trial format.
Does this change your race strategy? How or why not?
I’m looking forward to the time trial format. I’ve never experienced this before in a race so I’m looking forward to the challenge. Race strategy will change slightly as you’ll be racing against the clock/yourself rather than other competitors. Racing against other competitors is more tactical/strategic, where the time trial format you’re dictated to how fast you need to go by what the time says on your watch.
The positive is I’ve had a lot of practise the past year training against the clock, so during the race it should have that similar feeling.
What is your target?
The field will be strong, so looking forward to see how I compare with the rest of the guys, especially after a long layoff from racing. If I can finish in the top 10 overall I’d be really happy reaching that target.
3. What are you looking forward to for this upcoming Aquathlon ORIGIN event?
Main thing I’m looking forward to is getting back into racing and getting that nervous/excited feel before a race. It’s been a long time without racing so experiencing that race feel again, setting out goals/targets for the race and trying to achieve them is a great motivational boost going forward and preparing for more races coming up.
