IIt felt like an eternity waiting to go in the final race! I felt the pressure this time with the level of expectancy (that i put on myself mainly). All the punishing sessions and hours put in the gym now comes down to this race. I didnt know too much about David apart from the fact that he has competed at Advanced level which was always going to make him a force to be reckoned with.......and he didnt dissapoint me did he? David is the classic X-trainer, good over all disciplines with no apparent weakness. I know age is a factor but look at Gary Nicholls and Steve Regan-Watts. consistent top 10 finishers at advanced level! Incredible!! I knew I had to go fast from the start so I tried to keep to 130rpm on the bike. I think quick transitions are important at intermediate level and I focused on that. The next few disciplines went well and the next thing I knew i was on the rower which gives you time to think and control your pace. Too hard on the row and its curtains!! i reached about 250m on the row and i heard Phil Hiltons finish time of 11:41 announced! I thought SHIT! thats my PB in training. A lot of doubt then started to wave over me and i felt the pain already. Pulldowns and bench jumps went well then it was onto the energy sapping steps. Last year step ups were my undoing going down to a snail pace. Id worked heavier and higher this year and it paid off. i tried to keep reasonable speed and relax saving the juice for the real test which is the run! quick thro the sit ups and then onto the treadmill. Simon Bellinger asked what speed? I planned 17kph which is what I do in training. 16kph I said! thats when i know Ive gone too quick up to that point. It seemed to take forever and was probably the most painful 800m ive ever ran on a treadmill. I was struggling to keep control which I thought Id trained myself to do well this year. Approaching 780m and my thoughts turn to the final push...the bench press! I knew i had to fly off that treadmill and blast out that 30 reps. I dont think i even breathed during that 30 reps. I knew i had to be very quick! Finished! wheres the oxygen?? waiting for my time....  11:32! YES!!! winning it was enough but getting a PB and beating last years winning time of 11:34. Pure elation!! I remeber last year witnessing that time of 11:34 and thinking what an awesome time. I knew i wud improve on 12:52 from last year but honestly did not think at that time I would go under 12 mins! X-training really does work and takes you to a level beyond what you think.   There is nothing like reaching that goal! its a fantastic feeling !

I'm really happy with my progress now and so pleased with my placings in the last 5 events. The first 6 months of X-training was very painful and I was almost throwing up after every session. I didnt seem to be getting anywhere.  My first Hampshire(horror story) fitness xtreme and Octathalon were all poor performances and I very nearly gave up. I decided to miss the next one which was the gauntlet. I trained hard for the next few months and then started to compare my timings to the results from the gauntlet. To my pleasent surprise I was doing time trials that would put me about 3rd. Im not sure how it happened but I seemed to go up a level overnight. This inspired me and had my first good result (3rd) at Gorton. Ive steadily been improving since.

Will you move up to the open next year?

Yes. I have to people keep going on at me! LOL! step up mate! Its time you stepped up to the Oche Lloyd!

Im just enjoying and making the most of placing well in the intermediates.

Just like to say there are some good intermediates that have just stepped up. Ian Johnson, Russell Stenning, Steven Mead all did themselves justice in the open at Luton. good blokes and good athletes I congratulate them and have a lot of respect for them.

I really enjoy training my clients for  upcomimg events. All of a sudden there is a lot more focus, determination and drive from them and from me as a coach. I want to bring the very best out of them and turn the weaknessess into strengths. They cope very well generally and rise to the challenge. Its not a smooth journey though, Apart from the odd injury there are break downs in training and some days just feel tough and you feel mentally destroyed and want to quit! Its happened to me a couple of times so I understand when a client slams that stop button half way through a kilometre of a 10% run. Its about reflecting then sleeping on it. Waking up and having another crack with a more posotive approach. Im very proud of each and every client of mine that X-trains and enters events. The likes of Andy Brown and Olivier Jacquet have made huge impovements over the last year. Practically 2 mins knocked off from last years x-treme times! Thats progress well done guys for getting through those gruelling training sessions! Makes it all worth it in the end!

Just touched on that slightly. Judging some of these disciplines is very tough especially when reps are getting bashed out quick. Fast reps make it look like the arms are not fully straightening. A good example is the pulldown, it really feels like your locking out but it can look like the arms are still slightly bent from the onlooker/Judge. Its a real tough one and ideally you need fully qualified judges. hard to come by when you need about 40-50 judges per event. The only disappointment for me at X-treme was the sit ups. It states in the rules on UKXTA that the arms must be fully flared out at the bottom of the movement with the fingers in contact with ears at all times. It wasnt happening and there was a lot of incomplete bad reps on show. It was the same at Calso to. The sit ups need to be tightened up on for me. That was the only quarm though

I think whether you are a good runner or not the run is the toughest discipline. It was very painful I was running at 16kph which is slower than what I do in training (17kph). your whole race can be a let down if you have a bad run and start hitting that down arrow. It happened to me last year dropping my speed down to 14kph. You just have to go through that pain to get the result you want. If you quit you will only kick yourself at the end and you will still be in pain anyway. Since I started X-training my mental toughness is a lot better, I used to quit when i was hurting before now I just try and ride it out and think about getting to the finish line quicker!

I do like the Wgc advanced course and its a great concept having the qualifing time trials to make for tighter racing in the finals.  I'm still an intermediate and have got a lot of work to do to start getting respectable advanced level times. I will make a decision probably after the ironman. I may be mentally worn out because I have put myself on a gruelling regime for the Ironman because its the toughest intermediate course out there. There is also the Grueller and Hampshire left on the calender. Its a long year! good though I love it really! cheers WGC!