Training this week has been a bit hit and miss, I did a brick session on Friday in the Gym which was: 2x (30mins bike into a 20mins run) at a maximum sustainable pace.
Saturday I went on a 2 hour flat ride, without pushing myself too hard because I didn’t want to be sore for the race the next day.
Sunday morning I ran about 15mins to the County X-Country Championships held in Hubbard’s Hills. The course was a tough 2 loops of 3km on really hilly and uneven ground. I raced pretty well, in the first lap I felt great, but towards the end I really started to hurt… maybe I didn’t quite pace myself correctly. I lead the race from start to finish, got my 1st win of the season! Afterwards I ran back home for 15mins as a cool down.
Later that day I had a 5.5km swim session, we did lots of small sets of efforts and drills and also some fin work. I also did 1000m pull.
When I woke up on Monday I could barely move legs, I think racing in my spikes was a bit of a shock to the system. I decided to take it easy so i went out on a easy 30min run and later that day I also did a 30min spin on the turbo to try and ease out the legs.
I felt better on Tuesday, spent most of the day Christmas shopping, however I did manage to get in a 1:30 ride before it got dark. Now I am just about to head to the pool, it’s a 90min session so hopefully we will get around 5km in…

On Sunday I did a 1hour session on the treadmill, I did 15mins progressive warm up then increased the speed by 0.5 every 5mins until I couldn’t go any faster, then I went straight into a 10mins reducing cool down.
Then I went straight into the pool for a 6km set. We did 1km backstroke followed by 8x75 f/c, 6x125 f/c, 4x250 f/c, 2x500 f/c. By the time we finished I was completely dead as I hadn’t eaten anything between the sessions.
On Monday morning I did 1hour on my bike on flat ground, then in the afternoon we did a 4.5km swim session which consisted of 14x100m turnaround time 1:30. It wasn’t too hard as we were coming in on around a 1:15-1:20 which is pretty comfortable.
Tuesday was a fairly easy day I ran to my Grandparents in the morning, which only took me 40mins. In the evening we did a 4.6km swim session, which were mainly small sets of drills and technique. We did 1km pull at a strong pace, that was good as I love long distance pull because I really feel like I am working!
Yesterday was a hard day for me, in the morning I set off on my bike not really knowing where I was going, I found a really nice hilly route which I will definitely ride again. In the end I rode for just over 2 hours. Then, despite the really bad weather I met up with Jutta for a really long run, we ran at a comfortable pace for 15km and then she made me do 2x1km uphill efforts! I was pretty tired when I got home and looking forward to sitting in front of the fire with a cup of tea and some chocolate!

Wow! This is truly inspirational....



In one of the ironman races they did, they had punctured on the bike and there was no way they would make the cut off, but try as the marshal might to get him to stop there was absolutly no way he would, so he kept going and finished in the dark.
It puts a lot things into perspective really, like how lucky we all are everytime we are out there training or racing, no matter how much it hurts!

The past few days....

I got up early on Wednesday and went for a 30min steady run, then after driving across the country to take my mum to the airport, I did a 2 hour undulating bike session along the local back roads where there is minimal traffic.
Thursday it rained all morning so I decided to do a run on the treadmill, I did 50mins working on high cadence and increasing the speed by 10 every 10mins. After lunch I went out on my bike for a 1 hour spin to help my legs recover from running, and then in the evening we did a 4.7km swim which included 6x200m reducing the times on each 200m followed by 10x50m efforts.
On Friday I felt like I needed to get a longer ride in with some good climbs (well as good as you can get around here!) so after some motivation from the guys at TT I set off in search of some hills and ended up being just over 2 hours! Later that day I went on a 30min run to loosen up my legs as they felt really heavy, then I headed out with a friend for a good Indian curry! :)

Another great quote: "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain!"

Sunday was a “legs off day” we did a 6.2km swim session which included: 10x25m, 8x50m,6x100m,8x50m,10x25m strong pace but keeping all the repeats equal, then we did 15x100 as negative splits, which is actually a lot harder than it sounds!
Yesterday morning I went for a 12km moderately paced run, towards the end I did 5x1km as 600m hard, 400m easy. I felt good during the efforts, really light on my feet… I haven’t felt like that with my running for so long, so that’s a good sign.
In the afternoon we did an easy swim session, it was 3.7km, the main set was; 2x300F/c Pull followed by 6x100m F/c as kick/swim and then 10x100m F/c.
Today I missed my bike session, which annoyed me because I am really looking to build back into a full training load within the next few weeks and I can’t afford to miss sessions when my training load is fairly light. I went swimming this evening and we did 4.5km. We did lots of small sets of drills and some IM work, the main set was supposed to be 4x250m pull but I ended up doing 2x500m pull because I didn’t make the turnaround time… so I feel like I really worked my shoulders tonight.

1st week back finished!

I only did one session on Friday, i rode for 2 hours on the hilliest route i could find, which is hard because i live in a really flat place. Anyway i managed to get a 10% climb in so i did do some work!
Yesterday i went for an hour spin on my bike on flat ground, just focusing on a light gear and leg turnover after fridays ride, then i went straight into a 30 min hard run which felt really smooth and fast. I always seem to run better straight off the bike than i do in normal running training.
In the evening i went to a Speedo league swimming gala for my local club and swam in the 100m backstroke and breaststroke and some 50m relays which was fun becasuse i got to meet up with some swimmers that i havn't seen for ages.

So my 1st week back into training totals are:

Swim = 7 hours
Bike = 7 hours
Run = 3 Hours

So my first full week back into training is going well so far, Yesterday morning I went on a 13km flat run with Jutta, we kept the pace moderate and even enough so that we could talk, it’s always nice to have company on long runs!
In the afternoon I went out on my bike for 1:30 focusing on leg turnover and working at a higher cadence than I usually ride, as my legs felt heavy and lactated from the run in the morning.
Today I got up and went straight out on a 30min run, it was rather eventful as I managed to get chased and knocked off my feet by a dog! However the adrenaline afterwards really helped because from then on my run felt really light and smooth.
This evening we did a 5.5km swim, the main set was 800m,400m,200m,100m max sustainable pace with 20 seconds rest inbetween, i worked hard and averaged 1:15 per 100m. The rest of the session was kick, drills and pull of varying distances and then we did a huge swim down!

I came across this quote today and I love it: “Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever" ..... Lance Armstrong

Finally I feel like i am starting to get back into training now that the off season is over.
On Saturday we had the National time trials for the British Triathlon Development programme, I had a disappointing 3km run time but it was really windy, i managed to stay on Mary's feet for the first 2km but i dropped back over the last km, my legs felt so heavy! in the end i was about 50seconds off my PB. Because i didn't run well i was more determined to make up for it in the 400m swim TT, I did a 4:41 which was good as it was pretty close to my PB! I swam with the boys and they set off on like 1.05 so i think that helped!
Sunday was a full day, we all did a bike set up exercise followed by a Turbo session working on fast cadence and 6x1min 1 leg drills. Then we swam 4.7km, main set was 50x50m moderate with every 3rd 50m hard while Jack was underwater videoing are technique. Then we did a track session of 3x3x400m. The 1st set was 3km pace +10s 2nd 3km pace + 5 and the 3rd was 3km pace. It didn’t feel good because I was tried and sore from the TT’s the day before.
Monday was much more relaxed, a legs off day, I only did a 4.5km swim session, mostly long easy distance with 8x100m hard off 1:30.
Tuesday I went for a ride for 1:30 on mostly flat ground but at the end I did 2x800m hard efforts up hill. Then we had a swim technique session, we did loads of drills but finished off with some harder work 5x200m hard with 10seconds rest between.

Who I Am And What I Do

Hi, my name is Jessica Towl, i am 19 and i have been a Triathlete for the past 4 years.
This site is designed to keep you updated on my Triathlon training, races, sponsors, and coaches.

I have just completed my final year as a Junior Elite, so now i am moving up to the Under23 where i have to compete at Olympic Distance rather than Sprint Distance.

Last year i spent 10 months living at training in Perth with the University of Western Australia Triathlon Club, where i trained around 20 hours per week. This was a fantastic experience from which i became a much more rounded triathlete as my recent race results proove. I would like to thank my coach in Australia Grant Landers for all his help.

As a Junior i have represented Great Britain at the Euorpean Realys in Italy, In the Salford ITU World Cup, In the Junior Elite race in Geneva Switzerland and in the ITU Perth Cup Australia (My first senoir race)

My best perforamce to date was my Podium Finish in Geneva Switzerland where during the run i overhauled the former European Champion Daniela Ryf to claim the bronze medal.